BA is a Gateway to a Promising Future
Butler Academy is an open door to quality educational opportunities and a passport to economic and personal achievement, which is why our Culture of CAN is the bedrock of our daily academic schedule and operating mission.
Our academic expectations are exceptionally high, but we’re also realistic, meeting every scholar where they are and addressing their social and emotional needs first. We know real learning doesn’t happen until a solid foundation of comfort, confidence, safety, self-control, and self-motivation is firmly in place.
It’s why we implement daily and weekly routines of habit-building and communication activities to guide scholars and teachers to put their best foot forward.
We believe the many little things we do ultimately create our positive school culture.
Year-Round Learning & Student Development
Our academic calendar begins in mid-July and concludes in mid-June with intersession breaks in the fall, winter, and spring. A year-round approach ensures scholars receive adequate time for learning, exposure, and sharpening their skills while giving teachers time for professional development and opportunities to re-energize. Every little thing we do adds up to create excellent results for our scholars.
Morning Meetings
Our kick-off routine to a joyous school day, Morning Meetings, allows teachers and scholars to greet one another in fun and interesting ways, share information, participate in a group activity, and get mentally ready to learn.
College Day
If it’s Thursday at BA, it’s College Day. Scholars learn new vocabulary words and essential facts every week, like the difference between a teacher and a professor. Even our kindergartners are learning about the importance of financial aid and scholarships.
Connected Community; Compassionate School
At BA, we don’t just talk about being connected; we are! It’s evident in the ways our teachers and administrators treat each other and the respect they show. Modeling this behavior for our scholars teaches them kindness, encouragement, and teamwork.
Guidance
A constant thread in our daily school life, Guidance is woven into everything we do, from Morning Meetings and Specials to outside play and professional development. Monthly themes like careers, teamwork, and special guests who are engineers and opera singers help us emphasize and model essential skills.
Scholar of the Week
Every Friday, teachers select scholars who have modeled BA’s BRAVE core values in social and academic settings throughout the week. They announce the chosen scholars to the entire classroom, explaining what they did and why they deserve celebration. Everyone in the class joins in.
Second Step Day
A critical curriculum component, this activity focuses on helping scholars acquire skills necessary for learning, such as empathy, problem-solving, and self-control.
Specials
We refer to enrichment opportunities like art, PE, and Mandarin as “Specials” because we see them as the icing on the cake of a BA education.
Zones of Regulation
To help scholars understand their different moods and emotions so they can learn how to manage them throughout the school day better, our teachers rely on four mood colors – green, yellow, red, and blue – to check in with scholars and find out why someone feels the way they do.
SEL Curriculum
A year-round academic calendar with standards-based, rigorous academics, character development, and a solid framework of Social-Emotional Learning Curriculum with Trauma-Informed Practices comprise our commitment to positively impacting the “whole child.”
We go to great lengths to integrate SEL into our daily learning environment with emphasis on five core competencies:
- Self-Awareness
- Self-Management
- Social Awareness
- Relationship Skills
- Making Responsible Decisions
Differentiated Instruction
We tailor instruction to meet the individual needs of every student through content, process, products, and the learning environment, including working in small groups and routine assessments.
Responsive Classroom
We use evidence-based practices to create a safe, joyful, and engaging classroom community for our students and teachers.
Evidence-Based Curriculum
We’re committed to consistently evaluating our curriculum and practices based on new research and evolving studies to achieve maximum effectiveness.
Continuous Engagement
Our year-round calendar provides enrichment opportunities to expose scholars to novel learning experiences both on and off-campus and enrichment and remedial opportunities, such as mini-courses and academic camps, to help keep scholars on track.
Social-Emotional Emphasis
To fully engage our scholars socially, emotionally, and academically, we teach and model key skills, such as self-awareness, self-management, responsible decision-making, and relationship skills.
Teacher Development
A Whatever it Takes Kind of Spirit
Every person on our team is all-in for every student. This mindset is the fabric of our teaching team and the driving force behind our academic goals. We don’t shy away from ambitious growth plans and 2030 stretch goals. We know what we’re doing can’t be done without the highest caliber of teachers.
Balance
Because serving the needs of our target audience of traditionally marginalized students can be emotionally, physically, and psychologically taxing, our year-round academic calendar allows teachers to disconnect during interims, vacation midseason, and refresh and recalibrate to stay balanced, focused, and energized.
Coaching
Our teachers receive real-time, customized coaching via weekly observations and one-on-one sessions with trained coaches.
Family Counseling
Teachers and administrators have lives outside school, and sometimes they face personal challenges that can be difficult to manage, which is why we offer free access to a professional counselor. Putting health and wellness first is a foundational strength that allows every team member to operate at their highest level of excellence.
Growth Mindset
Becoming a great teacher doesn’t happen overnight; it takes continuous practice, feedback, and a commitment to personal growth. Having a growth mindset is a non-negotiable quality for a BA teacher.
Literacy Coach
Developing foundational literacy skills in our scholars begins with empowering our teachers. A full-time literacy director who is also trained as an instructional coach observes teachers in action, providing feedback and guidance for delivering concepts differently to engage students better.
Morning Huddle
At the start of every day, our teachers gather to discuss critical topics like Classroom Meetings. For example, a teacher may choose to put a math lesson on pause to address a classroom situation. When a Classroom Meeting occurs, teachers share the purpose, problem, and solution with the entire class and treat it as another learning experience.
Professional Development
Our teachers engage in 20+ days of formal professional development annually and hone their craft through regular, reflective discussions about their teaching experiences.
Team-Based Problem-Solving
Rather than operate in silos, our administrative team and faculty work together to develop solutions, best practices, and new approaches to everything from operations and curriculum to schedules and discipline.
“You know an excellent teacher or administrator when you see one.”
Dr. Jerome Reyes, President, Butler Academy
