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Envisioning Our Legacy
At Springfield Legacy Academy, we know anti-racism and equity exists in our school when all students, families, and educators, regardless of race, immigration status, language, gender identity, sexual orientation, ability, and other identifiers, have unimpeded access to inclusive learning and working environments characterized by rigorous instruction, rich systems of support, and differentiated opportunities that contribute to their personal and academic growth, choice, and freedom.
The mission of Legacy Academy is to ensure all of our students have the fundamental skills and knowledge to realize a life well-lived and we guarantee this through the universal languages and liberties inherent in our learning community. These universal languages are conveyed through rigorous, grade-level instruction, bilingualism and biculturalism, robust, personalized supports, joyful, inclusive learning environments, time and opportunity to develop mind, body, and relationships, empowering partnerships with families, and a relentless, unapologetic commitment to name, dismantle, and heal racism and bias in our school and beyond.
The mission of Legacy Academy is to ensure all of our students have the fundamental skills and knowledge to realize a life well-lived and we guarantee this through the universal languages and liberties inherent in our learning community. These universal languages are conveyed through rigorous, grade-level instruction, bilingualism and biculturalism, robust, personalized supports, joyful, inclusive learning environments, time and opportunity to develop mind, body, and relationships, empowering partnerships with families, and a relentless, unapologetic commitment to name, dismantle, and heal racism and bias in our school and beyond.
Living Out Our Legacy
At Legacy Academy, we live out the commitment and celebration of the universal languages that bind us through three distinct pillars setting us apart from any other public school in the state:
Dual Language
Legacy Academy provides a middle school Dual Language Immersion model in which approximately one-third of each class roster is comprised of native Spanish speakers and distinct courses are offered monolingually in both English and in Spanish. As an emerging model of Dual Language Immersion, our school will achieve our approach to universality of language in the following ways:
Sport Model
Legacy implements a Sport Education Model in which Soccer and Basketball serve as a universal full-year, daily core subject along with Math, Humanities, and Science. The model is built on the framework of the Fugees Family network of schools in which soccer serves as the foundation for educational justice for emerging bilinguals and refugees. The Fugees model is designed exclusively for emerging bilinguals, particularly those who have endured significant trauma such as war and persecution. This model ensures daily rigorous academics alongside immersive sport experiences that provide our emerging bilinguals (in both English and Spanish) connection across languages, unifies through development of a “team” mindset, promotes exploration through play, and supports feelings of individual and collective identity and belonging. As an emerging approach to the Sport Education Model, Legacy will embody the universal literacies of play and teamwork in the following ways:
Community Learning Teams (CLTs)
Legacy lives out the universal commitment to equity by ensuring small learning communities within our larger school landscape. Each Community Learning Team is a comprised of a grade level of students with a dedicated leadership and support team that works to remove racial, linguistic, gender identity, sexual orientation, religious, and other barriers that threaten to impede learning and joy for our scholars and staff in the following ways:
Dual Language
Legacy Academy provides a middle school Dual Language Immersion model in which approximately one-third of each class roster is comprised of native Spanish speakers and distinct courses are offered monolingually in both English and in Spanish. As an emerging model of Dual Language Immersion, our school will achieve our approach to universality of language in the following ways:
- Students take a rigorous, grade-level monolingual English Humanities course
- Students take either a rigorous, grade-level monolingual Spanish Humanities course (for monolingual and bilingual Spanish-speaking students) or a Spanish Language course (for monolingual English-speaking students)
- Every student has access to both monolingual Spanish and English math core content in a co-taught classroom
- Exceptional learners have bilingual special educators providing services and family empowerment in the context of a co-taught classroom
- Every student is provided both core and intervention instruction based on their unique needs
Sport Model
Legacy implements a Sport Education Model in which Soccer and Basketball serve as a universal full-year, daily core subject along with Math, Humanities, and Science. The model is built on the framework of the Fugees Family network of schools in which soccer serves as the foundation for educational justice for emerging bilinguals and refugees. The Fugees model is designed exclusively for emerging bilinguals, particularly those who have endured significant trauma such as war and persecution. This model ensures daily rigorous academics alongside immersive sport experiences that provide our emerging bilinguals (in both English and Spanish) connection across languages, unifies through development of a “team” mindset, promotes exploration through play, and supports feelings of individual and collective identity and belonging. As an emerging approach to the Sport Education Model, Legacy will embody the universal literacies of play and teamwork in the following ways:
- Every student will preference either Soccer or Basketball as their fourth core subject
- Identical to other core classes, Sport classes will meet each day for 80 minutes for a full year, each year (they will not rotate or change as in the physical education or elective model)
- Every student participates as a member of the Team and takes active ownership over their learning and sports literacy development by studying and serving in various team roles such as, player, captain, coach, trainer, referee, analyst, publicist, manager, marketer, designer, and more
- To live out these experiences, students develop core literacies in three instructional spaces and rotations throughout each unit, including the gymnasium for technical and tactical learning, the fitness center for somatic learning, and the classroom for cognitive learning
- In addition to the three learning contexts, development in community, identity, and the universality of play will be overarching across all experiences and instruction
- The model is supported through a three-member Soccer Team staff and a three-member Basketball Team staff, all of whom have significant experience as recreational, college, or professional players, successful coaches at all levels, athletic directors, competitive, recreational, and clinic program coordinators
- Students will have a high level of ownership in order to further develop core literacies around individual and collective goal-setting and monitoring
Community Learning Teams (CLTs)
Legacy lives out the universal commitment to equity by ensuring small learning communities within our larger school landscape. Each Community Learning Team is a comprised of a grade level of students with a dedicated leadership and support team that works to remove racial, linguistic, gender identity, sexual orientation, religious, and other barriers that threaten to impede learning and joy for our scholars and staff in the following ways:
- Small grade-level CLTs ensure every student is well-known by a team of caring, vigilant adults who serve as Primary Persons to approximately 20 students
- Primary Persons on each CLT empower scholars and their families, diagnose academic and social-emotional needs, develop individual learning success plans with targeted goals, and provide customized intervention, all of which are regularly monitored for refinement
- CLTs overtly model the ways in which we all serve actively as both members and allies of Black, Latinx, diversely-abled, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and/or questioning community stakeholders
- Walls, classrooms, and curriculum characterizing every CLT are designed to explicitly reflect and support all of the students and families we serve