Academics
All students prepared for a choice-filled life
We believe excellent teaching and learning is paramount as we exist to ensure our students have the necessary social skills, mindsets, academic habits and content knowledge for all secondary education options as they pursue a choice-filled life.
Elementary
Instilling a deep love and curiosity of learning.
We foster a love to learn to read and reading. The joy of reading through read-alouds, hands-on activities, and asking big questions to help bring the text to life. We implement the renowned literacy program Wonders to help support reading engagement and growth that includes all components of the Science of Reading. Our core literacy instructional block includes whole, guided and small group instruction.
Our math curriculum is centered around real-world problem-solving. Through the tough problems they tackle and the culture of collaboration in the classroom, our kids fall in love with the study of mathematics. Our lessons require kids to use what they know to attack a new problem that is one step beyond what they have ever done, but still possible for kids to tackle with hard work. Our math curriculum is derived from the Into Math program.
We also use Story Problems (Cognitively Guided Instruction method), which empowers students to progressively build on what they know about math to infer solutions to problems and represent their thinking in multiple ways.
Middle-School
A college-ready culture that blends academic rigor with social-emotional learning and increased independence
In English Language Arts classes, we use a balance of close reading, guided reading, and independent reading to build student mastery of fiction and nonfiction texts. Our literacy curriculum presents students with texts that provide meaningful exposure to important periods in history, as well as contemporary works that are must-reads for kids today. As a result, our middle school students gain insight into important social justice issues by grappling with texts that highlight societal issues of race, class, and power. Students are encouraged to challenge each other’s thinking and participate in constructive debate.
In math and science courses, students balance skill mastery with deep conceptual understanding of math and a curiosity to learn more about the world around them. We urge students to explain their reasoning, debate different approaches, and describe how they arrived at an answer. In science, we utilize cross-cutting concepts to help kids recognize patterns, explain phenomena, and see the infinite connectedness of our world. Science curriculum melds technology with hands-on components, building on students’ natural curiosity about the world around them.
i-Ready
i-Ready programs support every learner on their path toward and exceeding grade-level success and mastery of standards. By connecting to actionable, intuitive data, teachers know where to focus and students become more capable and engaged.
We benchmark student reading and math progress through the i-Ready program, which allows teachers to review student progress in foundational skills and specific standards.
As a result, students participate in several independent and guided reading sessions each day and also have frequent opportunities to receive small group instruction to meet their needs and or be intellectually challenged.
Supporting all learners
Students with exceptionalities are welcome in our community, and they’ll find instruction and opportunities tailored to meet their needs. All students receive data-informed intervention and extension activities on their target skills throughout the day.
Students with Individual Education Plans can benefit from a wide range of services, including Integrated Co-Teaching, Special Education Teacher Support Services, Speech and Language Therapy, Counseling, Occupational Therapy, and Physical Therapy. Our English Language Learners also have the opportunity for targeted direct ESL instruction.
