This website - http://www.urbanacademy.org/index.html - is really worth taking some time to browse. The school makes me feel what a trick we are missing with our academies (it's one of 4 small schools created to replace a failing big one) and how empowered the teachers and students are because responsibility for learning is genuinely made over to them. The enquiry learing model, the vertical grouping, the rules (including " It's ok to be an oddball" & " it's ok to be an intellectual") and the student reflections tell the story. Who else wants to work there? Get in line!