Accelerated Learning Laboratory

Both my children have been attending this school for the past 3 years. My son started in their pre-school program and my daughter started in the 5th grade. This is the BEST place for my kids. The school is comprised of 3 buildings; Pre-school, elementary, and secondary. There are about 200 kids in all that attend the school. All the kids know each other and support each other in their efforts. The teachers and administrators all go the extra mile to make sure the kids really LEARN the material. The teachers stay late, skip lunch, and attend extra-cirricular activities to support the kids. They give 1 on 1 instruction and encourage the older kids to mentor and tutor the younger kids. There are no cliques, bullying is not tolerated, and the quality of the education is fantastic! My daughter is involved in EVERYTHING. She is on student council, involved in Science Olympiad, and participates in the Chinese Exchange program. I could not ask for a better place to send my children to school. I am truly grateful for the administrators, teachers, and student body that educate and encourage my children everyday.
—Submitted by a parent

This school has potential to be really great but lacks consistency & structure. There is a lot of turnover too so this ended up not being a good fit for our family.
—Submitted by a parent

This school is fantastic. For this school to be a good fit, your child must exhibit a strong desire to learn and be highly motivated. The school teaches to the level of the student, not the lowest common denominator. The school expects studious behavior from the children and rewards the children with dedication and unlimited involvement. The best school in Tucson if your child wants to learn.
—Submitted by a parent

My son finished his first year in this school but does not return next year. The first grade and kindergarten teachers are very good. But the school has some problems to be solved. Safety is the first, children play in the playground and no have any kind of fence to protect them from going outside the area. Cleanliness is the second, many children develop asthma, brinquitis, pneumonia and strep throat during the past year in school, the school would not listen to parents and some parents had to clean their child's classroom because the school does not heeded the complaints. The backpacks and lunchboxes are thrown around the yard and in the halls you can not walk because they are all lying on the floor. The only thing that consentran is that the child memorize math and geography, have no interest in that child has a class reading or writing and that many are far behind many children and parents have to pay tutors to teach them to read and write. On the other hand the administration and you will never see the person who is to replace the principal has no education in human relations. Only known shout, to make people feel bad and that includes students.
—Submitted by a parent

I have two Boys in this school. I love the accountability that they put on the kids they are great partners with parents. This is not a school for parents that want to let there kids just get by. Although there is a lot of memorization when the kids get to upper levels of work they have got to know what they have learned. The school doesn't hide the fact that they are a curriculum based school nor do they promise Art projects. The reason why the kids come home on the dirty side is because they allow them to play like kids. I have sat through recess many times watching the different grades interact and play well together. They dig in the rocks search out bugs and many other things including kick ball. The kids play hard because they work hard. My 2nd grader that was coming from another school extremely behind in all subjects has really shined at this school. He is responding very well to the accountability and knows that hard work pays off. I'm proud to say that my kids go to this school. It was an adjustment at first for homework but now we have our schedule and it works well. I'm excited to continue with this school next year and many more years.
—Submitted by a parent

This school is not as great as many people think it is. I gave it two stars because my child did learn something. She learned how to memorize! Kids get one sheet with several math problems and they work on that sheet until they can "Master ' it. I say "Memorize" it. They also get these sheets for Geography. Now they have implemented a new requirement for children, regardless of grade. They must "Memorize" three of those sheets in a week in order to get an "A" grade. As a parent, get ready to work your rear off, after work, helping your child "Memorize" these sheets. Also, this scholl is very dirty! it seems like more and more kids are having respiratory issues like bronchitris and asthma. Kids are always sick in this school. They need to work on cleanliness in this school. Book bags and jackets are just thrown on the classroom floor because there is no where else to store them. This school seems to be more concerned with numbers than with the children. I will be rescuing my child from this "School". She will not return for 2011-2012.
—Submitted by a parent

Much of the homework in the grade school consists of a 20 question sheet and an answer key. No study materials, no books, and no explanation of the answers. So, the easiest thing for the student to do is memorize the answer key answers without even looking at the questions. This homework is also the chapter test. They pass and move to the next level without having a real understanding of what they just tested for and passed. If only the tests were different from the answer keys that the students are given to memorize, some real learning might take place. Why not make that one simple change? It would make all the difference in the way the students study and learn the math and geography lessons. They would have to grasp the concepts and utilize them rather than just memorize answers in order. A Dissapointed Parent.
—Submitted by a parent

My daughter has just finished K. at ALL First of all, I do want to say that her teacher is SUPER. If it weren't for her, I don't know... The curriculum puts way too much emphasis on rote memorization of worthless data and there seems to be little creative thinking going on. I regret that there is no art or music taught and the days are too long, especially for Kindergarten. Despite all this I think that my daughter did well this year and did learn a lot. However, I think this is due entirely to her excellent teacher and parental involvement. Without homework help she would not have done well. Also, I agree that there is lack of supervision, and for this reason I attended all field trips and swimming. I think this school can work for a child, but it definitely takes a lot of parent involvement.
—Submitted by a parent

Parents, I encourage you to really do you homework when selecting a school for your children. ALL is more concerned about stats, hight scores and rankings than they are about the safety and well-being of your child. I encourage you, the parent, to look at everthing regarding this school. From math and science reports to police reports.
—Submitted by a parent

Excellent school. Period. My son is in 8th grade and he is taking 5 AP classes and Chinese. Last year he passed the national AP test in two Calculus classes. This year he is expecting to get 5 or 4 in AP History, AP Psychology, AP English Composition, and AP Arts. He is also hoping to pass AP Statistics. My son is not genius, but the level and quality of support and guidance is sky high. Accelerated Learning Lab has been the best discovery for my family.
—Submitted by a parent

OK, I have been going to this school since 1st grade, and I am leaving now because this school can get hard i am now in 7th about 8 years here now. Very very good school though. It fitted me for a very long time. It could be a little more organized... but other than that it is great... they teach students at a high level i am in College algerbra right now.... They teach at a good pace though
—Submitted by a student

My child is in 4th grade and has been attending A.L.L. since 1st. My son is also way behind in reading but is excelling in everything else. I have put a lot of money into outside reading and writing education. I have tried to help him at home, I have payed tutors, I have sent him to special reading academies. I am not a certified teacher and have not known what to do for him. We finally resorted to sending him to Sylvan which took all of our savings and then some. He ended up testing at the 2nd grade level. Also, we don't mind the math homework but I wish that he would come home understanding it. They send answer keys home but they don't show how they got to the answer. They are learning in a different way then we learned as a children. We can't help.
—Submitted by a parent

I was there since the school first started and i was in 2nd grade transferring from a public school. i was there until 8th grade. it had to be good seeing that i lived about 30minutes away. The teachers are good and fine, but the disciplinary set-up was terrible. it seems as though the turn-over rate of teachers is high mainly due to the education set-up. i will admit that they did have me excelled in math but killed art electives. the lack of art killed it for me. also if the name for the separate learning class, which i was in, is still called the maturation chamber that is not right. so please when thinking of taking your kid to all don't think it will automatically make your kid smart. if you want them to actually to have the freedom to experiment with art related things try somewhere else.
—Submitted by a student

ALL is the best school for those who care about education You will always have people who would prefer junk food to healthy one, noise to music, and mediocre education to an excellent one. I came to believe that most students who fail at ALL do so because of their parents. Let me give you some bits of factual information about this year: This school won the first prize in Algebra, in the Math Fair organized annually by Tucson High School, beating all other schools in Tucson, including the gifted schools. This school won the top prizes, in drama and poetry in Language Fair, organized by the University of Arizona, both in Chinese and Turkish. This school has more than 20 percent of its middle and high school students taking AP classes. That is, one in five students! This school received 6th place in Science Olympiad, in the State of Arizona just
—Submitted by a parent

This school is amazing! Well it's great for parents who want to be involved in helping thier children become all that they can. The great thing about this school is that every student learns at their own pace, unlike a public school that has a certain amount af curriculum to cover in a certain amount of time. Student's don't just move forward until they understand the material. No one get's left behind. Another perk, My niece is going to China as a student ambassador for ALL.
—Submitted by a parent

The school is fabulous and teaches students far more than they will learn from public schools. Transportation to and from school is clearly the parents responsiblity. If you as a parent do not feel there is adequet supervision after school is out then here is an idea: pick your child up on time and supervise them at home! if however you may not be there on time every day then teach your child to behave properly even when no body is watching, thats called being responsible for your own actions and its a skill many children these days lack. It is not the teachers fault your child behaves in an unruly/unsafe manner, its your childs fault. As the parent its your responibility to hold them accountable.
—Submitted by a parent

After watching my son struggle and digress in a TUSD elementary school the first half of his 1st grade year, I enrolled him in ALL, and couldn't have been happier with how well he did. He attended until 3rd grade (only because we moved across town), and went from barely being able to read to being way ahead of other children his age by the time his time at ALL was done. So basically, I couldn't have asked for a better experience for my son. Now he's in 5th grade at Amerischools and complains that he already learned everything they're teaching him now back when he was in 3rd grade at ALL. I don't think they need to be more hands on. It's good for children to learn at a young age to be self-reliant. :-)
—Submitted by a parent

I am very happy with the extraordinary education ALL is giving my daughter and son. The only other school in Tucson that even comes close is Basis. Most schools with high performing students and high academic standards find ways to keep from admitting students who are not at grade level. Although ALL admits both advanced students and students who are behind, I would not recommend enrolling your children unless you can get them to school every day and on time. It may be obvious, from reading the other reviews; the Headmaster is not apologetic about holding teachers, students, and parents accountable! You should be prepared to see your child do homework every night. Even advanced students are worried when they first start. My children were! You should be prepared to see some 4th grade students in intermediate algebra and 7th grade students in calculus. My children are! The school is small and students are very close and supportive of one another. The secondary school writing teacher is wonderful. Although the grounds and buildings are very nice, the janitorial staff could be more diligent.
—Submitted by a parent

What can I say? Please, parents, research the headmaster of this school as he has made a mess of things there for the last two years. I am extremely disappointed in what this school has become. It was once a great place to send your children. Now it lacks vision and sound management. Teachers are good but they come and go and I have noticed a lot of teachers leave in the last couple of years. It seems the curriculum teaches kids trivia, shortcuts and very little reading or writing. While this might work in math, it does not for other material. Sadly, I will be pulling my child out after this year. I suggest doing your homework before thinking of enrolling your kid here. One man is bringing down the ship, don't be there when it sinks.
—Submitted by a parent

This School is Great!a few Ups & Downs but over all we work togeter to make it Better. Thanks Parent Group :}..