Transformative Academics at Futures Academy Pasadena

At Futures Academy (FA), your child is the singular focus in each class. Its teachers know your child’s name. They also know how your child learns best so they can tailor instruction to your child’s learning pace. Futures Academy teachers are mentors who make a positive impact by providing customized support based on your child’s unique talents, challenges and interests.

FA one-to-one education provides:

• Individualized attention and pacing
• Improved communication
• Fewer distractions
• Increased flexibility

Focus Academy’s Method: Focus on YOU

Most traditional schools maintain a M-F 8-3 “factory schedule” making for long days and leaving students tired or disengaged. Futures Academy is all about flexibility, focus and attention – one student at a time. Our teachers address each student’s individual skills, interests, needs, and rate of progress. Students and teachers work together to achieve content mastery and personalized goals.

Students work with their teachers to set learning expectations and personalized goals to achieve content mastery (defined as completing each assignment with a score of 80% or higher before moving forward). Content mastery sets the foundation for learning given each subject builds upon the next. Flexible scheduling allows students to achieve their academic and personal goals. To fit your busy life, we work closely with you to create an optimized class schedule to help your child overcome any learning challenges or scheduling conflicts.

Schoolwork Not Homework

In Focus Academy’s Guided Study, students take time to practice skills and complete homework at school. Therefore, we think of it as ‘schoolwork’, not ‘homework’. This practice alleviates the homework battle many parents face, reduces stress, and increases time for quality family time.

Tutoring

Tutoring is offered for students who need extra help. Futures offers different tutoring options that will support your child with completing their assignments, preparing for tests, and reviewing important concepts. Tutoring options are available for our full-time students and also for students attending other schools who need help with a particular course or set of courses.

Strong Curriculum, Innovative Electives, and Awesome Teachers

Futures Academy build solid academic foundations and mindsets for learning through:
• Over 170 course offerings including 27 honors and 16 advanced placement courses
• Over 70 21st century skill courses enabling students to explore career options in coding, STEAM, digital arts, and storytelling
• Nearly 100 UC/CSU and NCAA approved courses.

MAP Testing

The Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) Test is a nationally recognized and normed assessment that measures a student’s grade-level proficiency in the areas of Mathematics, Reading, and Language. You may learn more about it at www.nwea.org.

MAP testing is an invaluable tool in helping us serve you and your students. One reason we chose this assessment for our students is because the test score data shows the student’s “Zone of Proximal Development” — educational jargon used to describe “what a student already knows, and what he or she is ready to learn.” The test results are completely individualized to each student, providing a holistic picture of the student’s grade level proficiency in the Common Core Standards, relative to other students across the country at their grade level. It also provides projected academic growth information, so teachers and students can set personalized and realistic academic goals.

Testing is quite simple:

MAP is computer-adaptive and self-paced. The test adapts to the student’s ability. Therefore, they do not need to study for it, but they should approach it with their best effort!

Seminars and Workshops

Futures Academy goes beyond typical school offerings. We offer high school and middle school seminars that cover a variety of relevant topics that invigorate and educate students beyond the core curriculum. Topics and key themes include: Environmental Awareness, Landing a Job, Healthy Living & Hygiene, Actions & Consequences, No Bullying, Integrity in Action, and more.

The school also offer workshops to delve deeper into subject matter in key areas to help our students achieve success. Workshops include: High School & Middle School writing workshops on Citations, Plagiarism, and Persuasive Essays; Math test taking strategies; SAT workshops; and more.

I used to hate all of my classes. Now that I’m here, I don’t have one favorite subject – I like all of my classes. The teachers here have changed everything for me. Now I really enjoy going to school. – Jack S. Student

Career Exploration Program – Electives

Futures Academy offer a robust elective curriculum that highlights programs based on student interests. At Futures Academy, we guide our students to pursue their passions by leading them through a four-phase career exploration experience.

Explore

In the first phase, a student selects up to four one-semester courses from our list of innovative electives. Our electives are organized by career path and a student has the unique opportunity to explore a wide range of interests.

Engage

After exploring different interests, a student selects the career path he or she is most passionate about. In this phase, a student takes up to two additional courses aligned to his or her chosen career path.

Invest

In the third phase, a student steps outside of the classroom and participates in a meaningful internship aligned to his or her passion.

Enrich

Futures’ connected community is enriched as students take on a campus leadership role and act as a student CEO with the capacity to mentor other students moving through their career exploration process.

Discover Futures Academy’s Innovative Courses, download its Course Listings here.

Futures Academy, 35 N. Lake Ave #160, Pasadena, (866) 598-0406 or visit www.futures.edu/campus/pasadena.