AITR is unique in design from any other school or academy in Volusia County. This generates many questions. Below are some of our frequently asked questions. If you do not see your question here, please feel free to send us a message on the Contact Us page.
How is AITR different?
School Within a School
A team of 7 teachers work together to cover all graduation requirements for students grades 9-12. This allows all courses to be academy courses. Students stay within AITR all day long.
Unique Schedule
We do not follow the traditional bell schedule. Instead, we use flexible blocks of time set up as a routine and our schedule changes daily.
STEAM Curriculum
AITR is designed to teach students high-tech STEAM skills in a collaborative environment where they are encouraged to be innovative and take ownership of their own education.
Two Track Options
AITR offers the following tracks:
– Programming/ Software
-Robotics
Project-Based Learning
Interdisciplinary projects with focuses on science, technology, engineering and math are used as the primary method of teaching core and CTE curriculum.
Mentoring Program
Each AITR teacher serves as a mentor to a group of 25 students for their entire 4 years of high school. Mentors connect with families and monitor student progress.
What is the curriculum like in AITR?
For the most part, days in AITR have three parts: Math followed by challenge time in the mornings, and technology time in the afternoons.
AITR uses a “hexmester” design to deliver curriculum to students. “Hexmesters” are six week periods based on the model in FIRST Robotics and the six week robot build season. The six week period gives enough time for students to complete a comprehensive project, but also creates the sense of urgency that often exists in the business world. Each grade level works through six hexmesters each year. The hexmester is designed around a specific challenge or problem based case. Students are divided into teams and throughout the six weeks they work on their challenge plus integrated material from every subject in the curriculum to resolve, build or design their solution to the challenge. At the end of each six week period students have some type of “deliverable” (e.g. a prototype or a mapped out solution) that they present to teams of teachers, business partners, administrators, and other community members.