Academic Approach
Meagan Moore is a seasoned education professional with extensive experience in program management and teaching across various educational settings. Currently serving as the Manager of School Programs at Academic Approach since October 2019, Meagan oversees a caseload of over 30 schools in the Chicago area, facilitating professional development, classroom courses, and assessments, particularly through partnership with Chicago Public Schools Title 1 services to enhance access to ACT/SAT preparation. Previous roles include Co-Director of the Mentor Program for New Teachers at The Prairie School, where Meagan designed and implemented support systems for new faculty, and teaching positions at KIPP Charlotte and as part of Teach For America, where Meagan focused on empowering students in underserved communities. Educational credentials include a Master of Science in Educational Psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Bachelor of Arts in History from Boston University.
Academic Approach
The idea for Academic Approach was born 13 years ago at Columbia University in New York City. While earning a PhD in English and teaching college freshmen in Columbia's core curriculum, I was at the same time tutoring New York City high school students for the standardized tests. I noticed an evident gap between the level of readiness my highschool students exhibited and the academic standards they would be expected to live up to on the college level.It occurred to me that the most meaningful way to offer test preparation was to create an academic curriculum that bridged these two levels of education, high school and college. Such a curriculum would allow me to use standardized tests in an innovative way: as a means to produce both better high school test takers and better college freshmen. We refer to this essential academic mission as "Teaching Beyond the TestTM."