Curriculum

Our curriculum relies on Socratic dialogue -  rhetorical conversations involving respectful questioning and critical thinking -   and the classical model of education called the Trivium as its academic corner stone. The three phases of the Trivium include:

• Grammar – In this phase students acquire fundamental knowledge in all disciplines.
• Logic– As students become world-class citizens, they learn how to reason and debate. Students apply their knowledge as they discern and evaluate, compare and contrast, and discover cause and effect relationships in any given subject.
• Rhetoric – As students progress through the Trivium, they learn to apply the rules of logic to the information they have acquired. Students learn to think rationally and articulate ideas effectively.

Guiding Principles of Literacy Instruction

• Good teachers matter. Learners need teachers who demonstrate what it means to live richly literate lives, modeling a love of reading and writing to their students.
• Readers need long stretches of time to read, and writers need extended opportunities to write.
• Reading and writing need to be taught like other basic skills, with direct, explicit instruction— including spelling, conventions, and the skills and strategies of proficient reading and writing.
• Researchers have studied examples of exemplary literacy instruction. In every case, when they found a classroom with high literacy engagement, they found balanced teaching in place.

Guiding Principles of Math Instruction

• Students deserve math instruction that makes math relatable and enjoyable in order to build their confidence as mathematicians.
• Students benefit from a strategic progression of math skills that build on concepts step by step, relates them to one another, builds conceptual understanding, and spirals back to develop a solid understanding of math skills.
• Quality math instruction includes a conceptual and procedural understanding of concepts for students.