HOW THE HIGH SCHOOL WORKS
It’s important to remember that the work you do to prepare for classes at the Academy isn’t really homework in the traditional sense of the word: It’s class work. You just happen to be doing it at home.
The best part of learning with other people is the conversations you can have about what you’re studying — but in order for that to happen, students must come to class prepared. We don’t want to spend all of our time together reading and taking notes; instead, we ask students to do that part of their work at home, bringing their questions and ideas about the work to class with them. Just as in college classes, you’ll be doing a significant portion of your work independently.
That means that you should expect to spend the equivalent of two full in-class days doing work at home. Your assignments are set up to prepare you for your next class; not doing them means that you are coming to class unprepared. Sometimes you’ll also have homework-homework — projects or writing assignments that ask you to delve deeper into a particular concept or topic. You should expect to spend 12 to 20 hours on homework a week — which sounds like a lot until you remember that you can spread those hours over three days and still have the weekend off. The key is to find a schedule that works for you and not wait until the last minute — if you take four days off and try to squeeze all of your homework into one day, you will probably feel overwhelmed and stressed — and your work will seem sloppy and incomplete.
We have a generous homework policy that recognizes and rewards effort — some of the work we do is challenging, and we don’t expect you to come in with perfect understanding every time. The purpose of homework is to learn to tackle increasingly challenging work, and we ask not for perfect execution but for authentic effort. If you’re working hard, coming to class with questions, and demonstrating that you’ve made a genuine effort, it will be hard not to get a high grade. On the other hand, if your work is consistently half-hearted, if you forget or don’t finish it on a regular basis, and you’re unable to answer very basic questions about it, your grades will reflect that.
Homework is not busy work. It’s important, thoughtful work that deserves your careful attention and best effort.
We believe high school is a wonderful time to explore different possibilities! In addition to helping you plan your academic experience at the Academy, your faculty mentor will help point you toward apprenticeships, internships, programs, and other opportunities that mesh with your educational goals and interests. If you’re interested in college, we’ll help you navigate the process, from preparing for standardized tests to writing application essays and everything in between. College is just one post-high school option, though, so your mentor can also help you plan a meaningful gap year, prepare to start a business, or enter the workforce. Ideally, each student will graduate the Academy with some hands-on experience in your field of interest and a professional resume, as well as an academic transcript.
Students at the Academy create their own map for high school education. With guidance and support from your faculty mentor, you’ll develop academic goals each year. We believe that education is all about learning what you need to learn to go where you want to go, and self-directing your annual academic plan allows you to take ownership of your education in a way that checking off required boxes could never do. Working with your mentor, you’ll develop a plan to demonstrate measurable growth toward your goals over the course of the year as you build a fundamental set of skills and knowledge. You may have academic goals (“I want to get all As,” “I want to improve my math SAT score,” I want to become a better writer”) as well as personal goals (“I want to get more sleep on the nights before class,” “I want to stop procrastinating and manage my time better,” “I want to complete my art portfolio to submit for a scholarship competition”), and your goals may be related to work at the Academy or elsewhere—your mentor will work with you to figure out how a volunteer project, NaNoWriMo effort, or cosplay design might fit onto your transcript. Because this kind of education is, by its nature, individualized, students in the same class may have vastly different goals and assignments.
The contract lays out a student’s goals for the coming year, but monthly meetings with mentors help students work steadily toward those goals and adjust them as needed. Mentors provide support, suggestions, and accountability for students’ contract goals. At the end of the term, mentors and students together evaluate how successful a student has been at accomplishing his or her goals.
Parents play an important role in student success in the Academy high school.
Students are ready to work more independently in high school, but the Academy’s university model is one that students may need parent support to master. Work at home is an important part of the curriculum, and students need a comfortable, distraction-free place to work. They may also need help with scheduling and organizing work at home — it can be tempting to put off work until the day before the next class, but this tends to be stressful and leads to sloppy work. Most students aren’t used to working independently in this way, and teacher support can only carry them so far when they spend the majority of the week at home. We depend on parents to be a part of their students’ learning process.
This definitely doesn’t mean parents need to micromanage homework or jump in and rescue students who have waited too close to the deadline — these things are part of the learning process, and our evaluation system gives students plenty of room to mess up and learn from their mistakes. But it does mean that students who repeatedly demonstrate a lack of homework follow-through may need more hands-on support, and we depend on parents to provide that when students are at home.
Research shows that parent involvement with high school students can have academic, social, and mental health benefits for their students, and we encourage Academy parents to help their students reap these benefits. We offer a full curriculum, but homeschooling a whole-life project, and parents are an essential piece of that.
We believe that students should have the opportunity to learn from and with each other, and our high school classes are set up following the Socratic model: Students engage with teachers and each other in meaningful conversations and debates across academic subjects. Many of our students forge strong friendships, but our small classes mean everyone is part of the Academy community, and students treat each other with respect and kindness.
Extracurricular activities in the high school are student-led and include everything from Latin Club to yearbook to theatre productions, depending on students’ interests each year. Many students participate in Friday extracurricular and social activities.
The work you do at the Academy probably isn't the only learning you'll do during high school — and we support you (academically and on your transcript) in pursuing independent learning opportunities. Many of our students use their generous summer breaks to pursue self-directed learning; sometimes, students may want to add a self-directed class to their work for the academic year. We think this is awesome! Some of the best educational experiences are the ones born from your personal needs and interest, and we know that students learn best when they actively involved in and responsible for their learning. We especially encourage seniors to take advantage of personalized learning programs to create a Senior Project focused on a particular area of interest. Here's how personalized learning programs work at the Academy.
Students are invited to propose their ideas for independent learning to the faculty adviser of their choice. Students must have a detailed proposal including plans for resources and learning milestones, with the understanding that some plans may shift over the course of the independent study. Your faculty advisor will review your project plan and work with you to write a contract outlining requirements and timelines for the project. Options for independent study in the past have included: in-depth study of a topic of interest, creative writing/art/music projects, internships, community service/volunteer projects, and outside classes — were open to other ideas!
Requirements for credit including biweekly update meetings with your faculty adviser, a journal record of activities, thoughts, and progress submitted biweekly, and a minimum of five hours per week devoted to the project.
At the end of the project, students will submit a paper or agreed-upon cumulative project that presents their finished product or experience. Students will participate in a Q&A with faculty members about the results of their study.
Classes at the Academy are designed to be rigorous academic courses that require substantial time and focus to master. An A at the Academy is not just a random letter grade—it's a confirmation that you've done increasingly challenging work over the semester, come prepared to class with reading and homework assignments done, actively participated in class discussions and projects, and done exemplary work on major papers and projects.
We give students a clear, specific academic rubric to refer to and regular academic feedback. Students receive letter grades and calculated GPAs on their official transcripts.