Each month, we'll spotlight the wonderful individuals serving on our school boards or the outstanding work

being done by school systems across the state!

The Alabama School of Cyber Technology and Engineering (ASCTE), the nation's first public cyber high school, has built something others want to learn from, and its outreach initiative, Advancing Cyber Concepts and Engineering Learning (ACCEL), is at the center of that story.

Reaching Schools Statewide and Beyond 

ASCTE was established in 2018 by the Alabama Legislature to prepare students from across the state for careers in cybersecurity, engineering, and emerging technology. Through ACCEL, the school extends that mission beyond its Huntsville campus. The initiative prioritizes bringing hands-on STEM experiences, cutting-edge curriculum and expert training directly to schools and educators statewide through three pillars:

• Outreach and Engagement (STEM Labs)
• Teacher Training (Professional Development)
• Curriculum Development (aligned to the Alabama State Department of Education's course of study, including the new artificial intelligence (AI) course)

Since the program launched, ACCEL has reached more than 50 schools across dozens of partner districts, trained educators from five school districts through three on-campus professional development sessions at ASCTE, and helped develop curriculum for ALSDE's emerging AI course. One of ACCEL's signature professional learning models brings educators to ASCTE while classes are in session. Visiting teachers observe live instruction with real students, then spend the afternoon breaking down what they saw and designing curriculum tailored to their own classrooms. This model replaces hypothetical professional development with a working classroom.

A Model Drawing National Attention

According to a recent Yellowhammer News article, ACCEL's reach now extends from Alabama to New York and even as far as Alaska. In New York City, Digital Pocket CEO Jeremy Deutsch was so moved by Alabama's model of public and private investment in a purpose-built school that he funded an ASCTE team to lead a camp at Dwight School in New York City after visiting the Huntsville campus. Additionally, ASCTE educators have led camps in remote Bering Sea communities in Alaska, adapting their curriculum to honor local knowledge alongside cybersecurity and engineering. ASCTE staff and former students have been invited to speak at national conferences, allowing audiences to get a firsthand account of the work they are doing and how their methods impact student success. 

A Future Built in Alabama

For ASCTE, national recognition is the result of a singular focus: Alabama's students and teachers first. ACCEL is proving that investing in them builds something the rest of the country wants to learn from. What ACCEL makes clear is that transformative education requires clarity of mission, respect for educators and a willingness to take what works beyond the walls of a single school. ASCTE was created to serve Alabama, and through ACCEL, it is doing exactly that: reaching students in rural counties, equipping teachers with tools and confidence, and building a statewide pipeline for the most in-demand careers of our time.

View Spotlight Archive