CUMBERLAND ACADEMY
8225 S BROADWAY AVE
TYLER
TX 75703
903 581 2890
frontdesk@cumberlandacademy.com
Cumberland Academy is a state funded charter school in South Tyler. It has been open for about 8 years in it’s current location – opposite the entrance to Academy Sports and just before Faulkner Park in Tyler.
This is a small, non-fee paying school serving kids from Kindergarten to 6th grade. It has a high teacher to student ratio compared to most other schools and a strict discipline policy. All students have to wear uniform. The academic achievements are high and each student has the chance to learn music and theater studies. The entrance is open to all families in the area and places are allocated by lottery – you put your child’s name down on a list and if you are lucky, then the children in your family are given a place or put on a waiting list.
The most interesting thing about Cumberland Academy is it’s future development as Tyler’s first ischool. What that means, in a nutshell, is that Cumberland is not just updating it’s teaching methods by using computers, but it is taking technology one step further. Each classroom will have a state of the art interactive teaching board and audio equipment so that the teacher can be easily heard throughout the room. Students will each have a computer to use at school and an ipod touch to take home for homework assignments. Traditional teaching methods for reading and writing will be employed too but the focus will definitely be on new technology in the classroom to prepare students for what is already becoming a computerized world. This technology has been made possible by grants.
In addition to the normal curriculum, the children will be able to specialize in the performing arts by taking an elective in violin, choir, drama or theater production skills.
Despite it’s new teaching methods, the school will still abide by the state standards and testing systems. It is not part of the Tyler Independent School District but is bound by the regulations of the Texas Education Agency. Cumberland Academy is run by a board of governors and parent involvement is very much encouraged by volunteer hours in the school or by participation in the PTO.
The school is expanding to almost double it’s capacity this fall and will be located at a new site which is currently being purpose built at the junction of Shiloh and Chad Drive in Central Tyler.
