This article contains content that is written like an advertisement .(June 2016) |
Science Leadership Academy | |
---|---|
Location | |
1482 Green St. Philadelphia, PA 19130 United States | |
Information | |
Type | Public |
Motto | Learn, Create, Lead |
Established | 2006 |
School district | School District of Philadelphia |
Principal | Chris Lehmann and Ann Leaness |
Grades | 9–12 |
Number of students | 506 |
Campus size | Small |
Campus type | Urban |
Color(s) | Blue & Black |
Athletics | Baseball, Softball, Boys and Girls Basketball, Girls Volleyball, Boys and Girls Cross Country, Boys and Girls Soccer, Boys and Girls Track, Boys and Girls Ultimate, Cheerleading |
Mascot | Rockets |
Website | https://scienceleadership.org/ |
Science Leadership Academy is a magnet public high school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, which opened in September 2006. SLA is a partnership between The Franklin Institute and the School District of Philadelphia. SLA is also a 1:1 project-based laptop school where all students and teachers use laptops as their primary learning tool.
Science Leadership Academy was created by the board of the Franklin Institute and founding principal, Christopher Lehmann.[ citation needed ]
In Spring 2009, SLA was named an Apple Distinguished School, by then one of only 34 schools in the nation named as such. [1] In addition, SLA was featured in the April 2007 Edutopia Magazine article, "My School, Meet MySpace" where the school is called "… [John] Dewey for the digital age, old-fashioned progressive education with a technological twist." [2]
The school has received speeches from a number of distinguished individuals over the years, including Bill Gates, Chairman of Microsoft and co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, who spoke to the students of SLA on Thursday, April 29, 2010 [3] and Steven Squyres, lead researcher on the Mars Land-Rover project who first visited the school in 2007 and was SLA's keynote speaker at their first graduation on June 15, 2010. [4]
In a September 2010 issue of Ladies Home Journal, SLA was named one of ten in "America's Most Amazing Schools". [5]
In October 2010, Apple.com published a case study of SLA on their Education web page. [6]
In March 2011, SLA was featured in the PBS documentary Digital Media: New Learners for the 21st Century. [7]
In March 2012, Apple.com featured SLA in their video about iBooks and iBooksAuthor. [8]
In June 2012, President Barack Obama came to the Franklin Institute. He was there to congratulate the graduating seniors of Science Leadership Academy. The president said, "My expectation is that somebody in this auditorium is going to figure out new sources of energy that help not only make us more energy independent but also deals with the problems like climate change. There is somebody in this room who is going to make sure that we are defeating diseases like Alzheimer's or find a cure for cancer." [9]
Dell has recognized the school as the Dell Center of Excellence for Learning since 2014. [10]
The school's academic model is built around its five core values of inquiry, research, collaboration, presentation and reflection.
Each student of SLA, (along with the teachers), receives their own laptop. The majority of school work is done on the computers through the school's Canvas course-management system. The school has large lab areas, combining both a usual SLA classroom along with the lab areas, allowing students to conduct experiments regularly.[ citation needed ]
The location of the school building was decided upon its proximity to the Franklin Institute, as well as being in the heart of Downtown Philadelphia. The building itself was formerly an office building (for the Human Resources department of the School District of Philadelphia), which was renovated for SLA. The building has five stories.
In September 2019, Science Leadership Academy was supposed to move into its new building at 1482 Green St, Philadelphia, PA sharing a building with Benjamin Franklin High School, however the construction was not finished, and both schools had to be relocated for several months causing a major disruption. [11] The schools moved back into the building in February 2020, and both schools are now located in the Broad and Spring Garden Sts. campus. [12]
On September 9, 2013, the school opened a second campus in the Wynnefield area of Philadelphia and graduated its first class in June 2017. SLA@Beeber originally shared a building with Beeber Middle School. After delaying a closure decision in 2013, the Philadelphia School Reform Commission recommended in 2015 that Beeber Middle School be phased out over a two-year period. [13] SLA@Beeber is now the only occupant of the building, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places for its significance to educational architecture. [14] In the 2018-2019 school year, the school welcomed its first fifth grade class. The school's founding principal is Christopher Johnson. They have created many new partnerships with places such as PAFA and St. Joseph's University.
On September 7, 2016, the third campus of Science Leadership Acabamy - Science Leadership Academy Middle School opened in the Powelton Village neighborhood of Philadelphia. The school (SLA-MS) opened with a 5th grade and will grow a grade until it houses a 5th through 8th grade. The founding principal is Timothy Boyle and the school was housed in the Dornsife Center on 35th and Spring Garden Sts. as part of their partnership with Drexel University for its first two years, and then moved into the 3600 Market St. building before moving into its permanent location on 36th and Warren Sts. in Winter 2021.[ citation needed ]
Drexel University is a private research university with its main campus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Drexel's undergraduate school was founded in 1891 by Anthony J. Drexel, a financier and philanthropist. Founded as Drexel Institute of Art, Science and Industry, it was renamed Drexel Institute of Technology in 1936, before assuming its current name in 1970.
The Milton Hershey School, formerly the Hershey Industrial School, is a private boarding school in Hershey, Pennsylvania for K–12 students. The institution was founded in 1909 by chocolate industrialist Milton Hershey and his wife, Catherine Hershey.
The Franklin Institute is a science museum and the center of science education and research in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is named after the American scientist and statesman Benjamin Franklin. It houses the Benjamin Franklin National Memorial. Founded in 1824, the Franklin Institute is one of the oldest centers of science education and development in the United States. Its chief astronomer is Derrick Pitts.
BrainPop is a group of children's educational websites based in New York City. It hosts over 1,000 short animated movies for students in grades K–8, together with quizzes and related materials, covering the subjects of science, social studies, English, math, engineering and technology, health, arts and music. In 2022, Kirkbi A/S, the private investment and holding company that owns a controlling stake in Lego, acquired BrainPop.
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Logan Square is a neighborhood in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Bounded by Market Street on the south, Spring Garden Street on the north, Broad Street on the east, and the Schuylkill River on the west, it occupies the northwestern quadrant of Center City. The square for which it is named is one of the five squares central to William Penn's design for Philadelphia. Originally called Northwest Square, it was renamed in honor of James Logan, an 18th-century mayor of Philadelphia.
Will Richardson is an author and speaker on educational technology. He has many published works, including the book, Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms, and the edublog Weblogg-ed which he wrote from 2001 to 2011. Richardson is also active on the web; he has both a Twitter account and YouTube channel.
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Derrick Pitts is an American astronomer and science communicator. Pitts studied at St. Lawrence University and has been employed at the Franklin Institute since 1978 where he is chief astronomer and director of the institute's Fels Planetarium. Pitts is a frequent guest on radio and television to explain the science of astronomy and share his enthusiasm for science in general.
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