A Letter from our Founders
We met as mothers of daughters with learning differences over 20 years ago when our children were in first grade. Although our backgrounds were quite different, one an educator and one a nurse anesthetist, we had much in common. We both were on the journey to put together an educational solution for our girls and looking for evidenced-based programs to ensure our daughters reached their full potential. Status quo was not acceptable. As parents of struggling readers and as professionals committed to following the research, our lingering question was always, “Can this be better?”
This was the impetus of AIM Academy in 2006. The vision was to create a model school whose curriculum was steeped in the research, where there was a bridge between the research and classroom practice, and where the learning environment was engaging and filled with educators who not only knew the research but knew how to translate the research to practice and bring out the strengths of each student. The goal was that AIM would serve as a “teaching school” in the model of “teaching hospitals” where the top researchers and practitioners could advance the field of education working side by side.
Today that vision has become a reality with the expansion of the AIM Institute for Learning & Research focused on active research and teacher training. As part of AIM Institute, AIM launched the IGNITE Center at AIM. At the center, Implementing Global Neuroscience In Technology and Education (IGNITE), AIM partners with global researchers and invests in technology to bring evidence-based practices to scale. AIM’s partnership with the Haskins Global Literacy Hub promises to accelerate the rate of research to practice in AIM’s partner schools throughout the region and beyond. AIM’s innovative technology platform, AIM Pathways, delivers highly interactive, comprehensive, evidence-based teacher training aligned to the IDA Knowledge and Practice Standards and the published State Standards in Education.
Thousands of educators including administrators, teachers, para-professionals, and tutors are learning and applying the Science of Reading using the tools, training, and coaching provided by AIM Pathways, an online learning platform. Many of the AIM Pathways courses are graduate accredited and there are micro-credential courses for individual badging. AIM Pathways is approved in many states as part of their Science of Reading and Dyslexia legislation requirements.
Data analyzed by researchers at Georgia State University on our AIM students in grades 2-5 over ten years shows that the AIM Integrated Literacy Model enables our students exceed norms for rate of improvement in reading fluency. This supports the research that all six components of literacy: oral language, word recognition, comprehension, writing, assessment, cross-curricular interactive content, must be woven into a comprehensive learning model if we are to maximize every child’s literacy outcomes.
As you become acquainted with AIM via our website, we encourage you to visit the IGNITE Center, to tour our EEG Lab, meet with our Research Advisory Board, or register for one of our many parent or teacher training sessions online or on campus. We hope to hear from you soon!
With warm regards,
Pat Roberts and Nancy Blair
Co-Founders and Co-CEOs