Power Curriculum Program

The Academy City's Power Curriculum Program is a large-scale program designed to advance a person's psychic or supernatural powers. The program is a series of tests, studies, lectures, medicines, body simulations and hypnosis used to unlock a person's powers.

Most students are categorized as Level 0, normal people with either no powers but may have the potential to develop powers and are encouraged to participate in the program to help them train or acquire their powers artificially. About 60% of Academy City's espers are Level 0.

However, not all Level 0's have no powers at all; there are special cases that a level 0 has an ability but can't be directly measured (like Kamijou Touma and Motoharu Tsuchimikado). While most students will fail the program as they never had powers to begin with or fail to increase their power, some are able to advance theirs powers from Level 0 to Level 1 and possibly further.

Considered to be one of the program's success stories is Misaka Mikoto, as she started from Level 1 and worked her way up to Level 5; she is presented as proof that with enough hard work and determination, anyone can become a powerful psychic. It is assumed it is possible to tell the potential of a person from a young age, such as 'doctors' asking Misaka for her DNA when she was still little.

However, unknown to the public there is a dark side to this program. Some of the scientists who research psychic powers try to increase a person's powers, especially those with unique powers, using other unethical methods, including dangerous drugs and experiments. For example, the 'Crystallized Esper Essence' and 'Body Clear' being developed, and the various institution Accelerator has been through in his youth.

Some of these methods achieve their desired results while others fail with trauma or injury to the participant or, in worse cases, death. In fact, some of the most powerful espers in Academy City are the result of these dark programs. For example, Accelerator, who was the only survivor of gruesome experiments. Another example is Kinuhata Saiai, her Personal Reality was developed by studying Accelerator's own Personal Reality; while failing to reach Level 5, Kinuhata managed to obtain 'automatic activation of esper ability' similar to Accelerator's reflect.

It is implied that the board of directors of the city are aware of these experiments, but choose to turn a blind eye to them as they allow those scientists to do what they what to do as long as the public does not know and it has achieved its desired result.