Families who are searching for a school that prepares children for the world with creativity, rather than rote learning, will identify with local Marine Corps veteran Max Peck.
When his son was born, he started asking questions familiar to every parent: What kind of future will my child inherit? How can I prepare him for it? In particular, Peck wanted to put his son on the right educational pathway.
“Around that time, I came across Sir Ken Robinson’s TED Talk on how schools kill creativity,” Peck said. “That hit me hard. It opened the door to deeper research.”
Peck learned about Acton Academy, which began in Austin, Texas, in 2009 and has grown to more than 300 schools worldwide.
“What struck me was the belief that children learn best through real-world challenges, responsibility, and discovery, not worksheets and lectures,” Peck said. “Once I saw that, I knew I couldn’t just find a school like that in Santa Barbara. I had to build one.”
Acton Academy campuses are independently owned and operated but share the belief that every child is a genius capable of leading a hero’s journey of growth.
In practice, that means Peck’s recently opened Acton Academy Santa Barbara honors natural curiosity, fosters resilience, and prepares students for real-life challenges in its Spark Studio — a classroom for ages 4 to 7.
And Peck wants to connect with like-minded parents who are interested in becoming founding families of this bold and necessary school, where the benefits of its classroom environment are immediately noticeable.
“Even in our youngest studio, we see it daily,” Peck said. “For example, instead of teaching math with a lecture, learners dive into hands-on challenges, like budgeting materials for a boat they design and build together. They wrestle with real constraints, negotiate with peers, and then test their ideas in the water. Success comes with both pride and failure, and the failure becomes the best teacher.”
Children lead the learning by, for example, setting individual daily and weekly goals.
“It builds ownership,” Peck said. “The moment they realize their effort moves the needle, you see confidence and resilience grow.”
All this points to Acton Academy Santa Barbara being about more than test scores or conventional college preparation, rather about “preparing children for a world that values creativity, problem-solving, and character,” Peck said.
Because the jobs of the future don’t yet exist, the ability to learn has become an essential career skill. As such, Acton doesn’t lock students into memorization or standardized paths, rather helping them learn to navigate ambiguity, so they can thrive with change.
“We’re not preparing children to be good test-takers,” Peck said. “We’re preparing them to be problem solvers, innovators, and leaders who can shape the future.”
One strategy for doing so is through Socratic discussion, which involves teachers asking open-ended questions to encourage students to think critically as they work toward understanding.
“It looks like a circle of curious faces and a big question in the middle,” Peck said. “For instance, ‘Is it ever OK to break a promise?’ Even at that age, learners wrestle with it, sharing examples, disagreeing, asking questions back. My role isn’t to give them the answer but to guide with more questions. The result is a studio where kids learn to listen, speak up, and think for themselves.”
Parents who are intrigued can meet with Peck to ask questions and decide if they want to be part of the Acton Academy founding families in Santa Barbara.
The first step is filling out an online form and booking an information session. Then, when visiting the school, children are invited to join, so both the child and the adults can choose if it’s the right fit.
