When your child steps inside Dr. Joseph F. Pollack Academic Center for Excellence (PACE Academy), they know they are part of our family. Everyone knows their name from teaching staff to students to parents. We spend a lot of time together—our students are with us while learning the alphabet, multiplication tables and all the way through the formative years of middle school. This sense of family is a powerful benefit of attending our tuition-free Southfield, Michigan K-8 public elementary school.
Safe, Inviting & One Less Transition
When you enroll at tuition-free Pace Academy, you receive more than an education, you find a school home that feels like family. Our K-8 culture is built on positive teacher-student-family relationships.
Families that attend K-8 schools have fewer transitions and enjoy the ability to remain in a safe, developmentally appropriate environment that nurtures students right where they are, suggests a Harvard Education Magazine study. The familiarity of the buildings, scheduling, and staff gives students confidence as they grow. Also—who doesn’t love fewer drop offs when you have multiple kids in school?
One of the biggest advantages of being a K-8 school is the opportunity to build lasting relationships. Our students grow from young scholars to empathetic middle schoolers who look out for the younger students and become mentors to them. These middle schoolers also have teachers who have known them for years and mentor them long after they leave their classroom. A student may have a special connection with a second grade teacher, and may still stop by the classroom as a seventh grader just to check in. There is security and support in knowing your teachers are there for you beyond the time you have in their classroom.
Making K-8 Great
PACE Academy’s daily TRIBES Advisory character development programs contain lessons that grow with the ages and experiences of the students. For example, the entire school focuses on a habit from our Leader in Me’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Me program. Every student gets a consistent definition and message about the habit of the month, but the conversations and lessons about character development get more advanced and nuanced as students get older. That consistency over time cements our students’ understanding and practice of these character traits, until they become an essential part of every graduating student.
We know when we send our eighth graders off to high school, they are more prepared than their peers at traditional middle schools. They have had the benefit of consistency, support, mentorship, and a school family for nine years -- and it shows in the way they meet the challenges of high school and still manage to reach a hand back to those coming up behind them.
Join our tuition-free PACE Academy Warrior family. Enroll today!
About PACE Academy
Dr. Joseph F. Pollack Academic Center for Excellence (PACE Academy) is a tuition-free public charter school serving kindergarten through eighth grade in Southfield, Michigan. At PACE Academy, we empower our scholars to realize their fullest potential through meaningful educational opportunities. We partner with our families and community in preparing our scholars to become dynamic leaders in the 21st century by celebrating the importance of collaboration and accountability in all we do. Join our growing school, enroll today!