History
Science Leadership Academy was created by the board of the Franklin Institute and founding principal, Christopher Lehmann. The 'Mission and Visions' page of the school's website describes the school as, "a partnership high school between the School District of Philadelphia and The Franklin Institute. SLA is an inquiry-driven, project-based high school focused on 21st century learning that opened its doors on September 7, 2006. SLA provides a rigorous, college-preparatory curriculum with a focus on science, technology, mathematics and entrepreneurship. Students at SLA learn in a project-based environment where the core values of inquiry, research, collaboration, presentation and reflection are emphasized in all classes."
In Spring 2009, SLA was named an Apple Distinguished School, as of 2009 one of only 33 schools in the nation so named. In addition, SLA was featured in the April 2007 Edutopia Magazine article, "My School, Meet MySpace" where the school is called "... Dewey for the digital age, old-fashioned progressive education with a technological twist."
The school has received speeches from a number of distinguished individuals over the years, including Bill Gates, Chairman of Microsoft and co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, who spoke to the students of SLA on Thursday, April 29, 2010 and Steven Squyres, lead researcher on the Mars Land-Rover project who first visited the school in 2007 and was SLA's keynote speaker at their first graduation on June 15, 2010.
In a September 2010 issue of Ladies Home Journal, SLA was named one of ten in "America's Most Amazing Schools".
In October 2010, Apple.com published a case study of SLA on their Education web page.
In March 2011, SLA was featured in the PBS documentary Digital Media: New Learners for the 21st Century.
In March 2012, Apple.com featured SLA in their video about iBooks and iBooksAuthor.
In June 2012, President Barack Obama came to the Franklin Institute. He was there to congratulate the graduating seniors of Science Leadership Academy. The president himself said "My expectation is that somebody in this auditorium is going to figure out new sources of energy that help not only make us more energy independent but also deals with the problems like climate change," the president said. "There is somebody in this room who is going to make sure that we are defeating diseases like Alzheimer's or find a cure for Cancer.". President Obama said that the students' talents would mean a bright future for the United States.
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