Excellerate Learning Academy: Personalized learning meets academic excellence at Colony High School

The Mat-Su Borough School District is one of choice, offering students and families flexibility along with the variety of academic opportunities. Through programs such as online and homeschool, students and parents have the chance to create an academic game plan unique to their individual short and long term goals.

But there are also students eager to maintain a more traditional high school experience who also may benefit from additional flexibility. Colony High School Principal Kristy Johnston hopes to provide her students with the best of both worlds.

Welcome, the Excellerate Learning Academy.

Johnston said Colony students now have three different avenues that can lead them to their academic goals while remaining within the walls of CHS. There is traditional in-person, which includes well-known favorites such as advanced placement, career and technical education, fine arts, world language and JROTC. There is also iTech, and now Accelerate ASU.

“We’re figuring out options for our students who want to stay at Colony High School,” Johnston said.

Students can also combine those pathways to meet their own academic needs.

Colony High School has partnered with Arizona State University and Accelerate ASU, a dual-enrollment program that allows high school students the chance to enroll in college courses and earn college credit without leaving their home building.

Other programs designed to allow district students the opportunity to earn college credit have long been in place and successful. But the Excellerate Learning Academy and Accelerate ASU can help provide students with all of the opportunities right at CHS.

The iTech online learning program offers a vast collection of courses that students can take online while continuing to attend their primary school. Accelerate ASU is currently open to only juniors and seniors, but iTech is available to students in all four grade levels.

Johnston used an example of a CHS senior during the 2025-2026 school year. This student needed to enroll in three specific classes during the second semester, but those fell during first, third and sixth periods. That left two gaps during the second and fifth periods. But the student, a child of a single mother, also needed to work. The pieces of a puzzle that is a class schedule did not fit. Ultimately after 3 ½ years at Colony High, the student needed to transfer to homeschool to create the schedule that fit her needs and give her the opportunity to work full time.

“She was devastated. She was a die-hard Colony kid,” Johnston said.

With the iTech or Excellerate ASU program, or a combination of both, Johnston said she feels like she could have kept that student at Colony High.

And that’s just one example.

How Accelerate ASU works

Accelerate ASU has two course formats that will be offered to juniors and seniors. There is the on-demand format, which includes fully online courses with no set dates or class times. There are also session-based courses with eight- and 16-week schedules. These are structured with deadlines and a more traditional format.

There is no formal application process, and dual-enrollment students have access to a full catalog of first-and second-year Arizona State courses.

Colony students enrolled in ASU courses will work directly with Arizona State professors and all of the grading is done by college staff. Colony guidance counselors will record the grade for the high school transcript, and school staff will also be available for technical support.

Johnston said Colony will use its library for the Accelerate ASU program.

“It’s going to look very much like a college setting,” Johnston said.

Students enrolled in iTech courses can also use the library.

The cost

Johnston said the school district will cover the costs — tuition and materials — for the Accelerate ASU program. Currently there is a budget for 50 total courses. Students can enroll in just one ASU course, or multiple. If demand exceeds the current cap, Johnston said the Colony administration will work with district staff to find additional funding.

The future

The hope is the program becomes a staple for the school and continued opportunity for Colony students.

“I am super excited,” Johnston said.

Johnston said she is eager to see both the initial and long term demand for the Excellerate ASU program. School staff polled a small group of incoming seniors, and the enthusiasm is building, she said.

For more information, see https://accelerate.asu.edu/.

Overall, with the Excellerate Learning Academy, Colony administrators see CHS as a place where personalized learning meets academic excellence, preparing every Knight for college, career and life.

Jeremiah Bartz is the Community Relations Coordinator for the Mat-Su Borough School District.