Acton Academy McKinney

I wish I could put less this one star, I was kicked out and a guide was fired because we raised concerns with how the school has been run. Because I am no longer a student there, I can now speak freely with no consequence from them. I was taught in my life that if there is something wrong, you should do what you can to fix it. This very school says they want kids to think like that, then kick me out when I actually say something about it. They are running this school into the ground. Based on all of their actions, they don't care about the kids or their education. Also, when someone is "disinvited" there is supposed to be an actual procedure for kids that are rightfully "disinvited". None of these steps were taken for me. They sprung this on me this morning with absolutely no prior notice. In Acton, these decision are made by the guides, they directly broke that rule to get rid of someone with an opposing view. When this school fails, please don't let your child be dragged down with it.
Dec 20th, 2022

Great expectations, to ashes. I had high hopes for this school experience as a parent of my 5th grade daughter. Having previously homeschooled and then private schooled, I liked the Acton philosophy of guided learning instead of force fed learning. Unfortunately, I feel it was executed poorly by the Acton McKinney school. The first part of the 2021 - 2022 school year my child chose to not pursue all of her responsibilities. Routinely, there was VERY little communication by Acton McKinney prior to the shock, late in the school year, of how my daughter was progressively falling behind. She then did massive amounts of homework to catch up on her work. In early 2022, Acton McKinney moved their school location further north east, increasing my daughters commute time. Also, in pursuit of my values, I decided to open an Acton school in the Plano area. Subsequently, I satisfied all of Acton National requirements to franchise and open an Acton affiliated school in Plano, Texas. In support of my franchising application, an Acton McKinney partner had provided a letter of recommendation on my behalf to Acton National. I was then approved as an affiliate. After my application to franchise was approved by Acton National, Acton McKinney partners approached me to partner with me in opening my school in Plano. After a number of discussions, I deferred a decision regarding their offer. Soon thereafter, I was informed by Acton National that they had rescinded my franchise approval as a direct result of the retraction of the recommendation letter previously submitted on my behalf by an Acton McKinney partner. This occurred a month AFTER I already achieved approval and Affiliate status! A short time later after Acton National recommended Acton McKinney yet again change their (now negative) recommendation of me, Acton McKinney precipitously and without cause kicked my daughter out of their school in early April, 2022, well before completion of the school year. The attempts by Acton McKinney to partner with me appears to directly conflict with Acton Nationals values and guidance to Acton affiliates. Perhaps concerned parents can find better alternatives for their children elsewhere.
May 12th, 2022

Mar 19th, 2022

My daughter attended for 2nd grade for the 2020-2021 school year . I read the Acton book and I loved the concept so Im not sure if the implementation at the McKinney campus was the issue for us or if the Acton concept simply did not work for my student . I was told there was no homework and all work would be done at school so not to worry about my daughters progress as she would advance at her pace . Its full day school Monday through Thursday but they had Fridays off . They used an app for math and reading so I would have her do a little work on her app on Fridays to supplement . I noticed in December that she was about 50% done with her 2nd grade math app but in March she had not advanced . When I inquired with her guide I was told not to worry . But I asked my daughter and she said she didnt understand the math concepts in the app . She told me her guide would not explain to her any concepts and they would simply be given app time at school . I started helping my daughter after school with her math . This is when I noticed the app used common core math . This is one reason I did not want my daughter in public school. We struggled through her math and got to the end of it together . She made no progress at all during her school days . They had quarterly progress meetings where parents can come in and see what the students were working on but I didnt get much info here because they simply showcased an art type project they were working on. . I wasnt as worried about her reading program since she was advanced in this area at the beginning of 2nd grade and she was not having any issues with her app BUT I was wrong not to worry . Upon further review of her reading app , I found the app simply had her reading short stories and answering multiple choice concept questions . It seems they did very little with grammar , writing, penmanship, or phonics work the whole year . Now she is in 3rd grade and I am struggling to help her catch up to 3rd grade level work especially in grammar, phonics and writing . The main focus at Acton according to the book is helping students become self sufficient but she did not advance in this area either . Because the kids seemed to be expected to work at their pace and not given much direction, my daughter had a hard time learning. She simply is not self sufficient yet. Sadly the concept failed for us . She really enjoyed the school at first and she LOVED the Kids business fair. We also did like the people that run the school. But this learning style did not work out in our case, unfortunately.
Apr 30th, 2022

Great expectations, to ashes. I had high hopes for this school experience as a parent of my 5th grade daughter. Having previously homeschooled and then private schooled, I liked the Acton philosophy of guided learning instead of force fed learning. Unfortunately, I feel it was executed poorly by the Acton McKinney school. The first part of the 2021 - 2022 school year my child chose to not pursue all of her responsibilities. Routinely, there was VERY little communication by Acton McKinney prior to the shock, late in the school year, of how my daughter was progressively falling behind. She then did massive amounts of homework to catch up on her work.In early 2022, Acton McKinney moved their school location further north east, increasing my daughter's commute time. Also, in pursuit of my values, I decided to open an Acton school in the Plano area. Subsequently, I satisfied all of Acton National requirements to franchise and open an Acton affiliated school in Plano, Texas. In support of my franchising application, an Acton McKinney partner had provided a letter of recommendation on my behalf to Acton National. I was then approved as an affiliate.After my application to franchise was approved by Acton National, Acton McKinney partners approached me to partner with me in opening my school in Plano. After a number of discussions, I deferred a decision regarding their offer. Soon thereafter, I was informed by Acton National that they had rescinded my franchise approval as a direct result of the retraction of the recommendation letter previously submitted on my behalf by an Acton McKinney partner. This occurred a month AFTER I already achieved approval and Affiliate status!A short time later after Acton National recommended Acton McKinney yet again change their (now negative) recommendation of me, Acton McKinney precipitously and without cause kicked my daughter out of their school in early April, 2022, well before completion of the school year.The attempts by Acton McKinney to partner with me appears to directly conflict with Acton National's values and guidance to Acton affiliates and show a lack of compassion for their learners.Perhaps concerned parents can find better alternatives for their children elsewhere.
Apr 26th, 2022