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Our History

The Ben Franklin Academy was founded in 1987 by Drs. Wood Smethurst and Martha Bruner Burdette. Both co-founders were experienced teachers and researchers whose background included significant work with students (both children and adults) in a variety of group and individual settings. Dr. Smethurst was Director of Emory University Reading Center and a professor in Ed. Studies for fifteen years. Dr. Burdette was Emory's Coordinator of the Emory/Oxford Prep Program for several years.

In addition to their teaching experience at the Emory Reading Center and Catch-Up School, Drs. Smethurst and Burdette both had taught at Lovett School, as well as in college and at several independent schools in Georgia and Texas. They helped to create the Emory/Oxford Prep Program, the Emory Medical School's Minority MCAT Program, and the Medical School's Board Review Program. Interestingly, besides their work with older students, both Dr. Burdette and Dr. Smethurst had preschool teaching experience as well, and both had been involved with Montessori schools. Both founders have significant experience with helping students avoid or recover from school failure and helping excellent students achieve success more efficiently. Both founders have a deep awareness of the terrible human and opportunity costs of repeated school failure in students and their families.

Dr. Smethurst was one of the founders of The Galloway School and served as its Vice President and Trustee. He also helped to start The Paideia School, taught kindergarten and served as Chairman of the Paideia Board of Trustees and Education Committee Chairman. Dr. Burdette had taught English at Ursuline Academy in Dallas, Texas, where she was Chairman of the English Department, and at El Centro Community College in Dallas; Dr. Burdette was Chairman of Lovett School's Middle School English Department after coming to Atlanta. She also coordinated the Emory/Oxford Prep Program for Emory University and has taught in BFA's support program for Emory Medical School students.

By the time Emory University decided to close its Reading Center and Catch-Up School, Drs. Smethurst and Burdette had for some years realized that there was an unmet need in the Atlanta area for a non-profit mainstream school that offered quality individualized instruction in a caring, informally progressive setting, specifically devoted to students who wanted to succeed. Ben Franklin Academy was founded to meet this need.

The school was incorporated as an independent, non-profit school in November, 1987, and officially opened in June, 1988, with 12 students enrolled in its summer program. Since then, Ben Franklin Academy has increased its enrollment to 155-165 students a year and has had a waiting list for the past five years. Since its founding, BFA has graduated over 1200 students. The school was accredited as a Special Purpose School by SACS (Southern Association of Colleges and Schools) in 1994 and was reaccredited in 1999 and 2004.