So What Make’s Different?

Our innovative school model is grounded in the belief that there is an Art & Science approach to teaching and learning. On the instructional side we focus delivering high-quality instruction through our Secondary Talent Development model. On the human side we focus on providing a school community environment center around the needs students in the early (Middle School) and late (High School) stages of adolescent development.

Our Secondary Talent Development model is a instructional approached designed to meet the needs of gifted and talented learners. We have an intentional focus to go beyond just identifying students academic and non-academic talent areas by focusing on intentionally developing those talents. Our approach for this work came the recommendations detailed in the seminal US Department of Education report National Excellence:  The Case for Developing America’s Talent.

We’ve used Maria Montessori seminal work around the different planes of development to provide a school experience focused on meeting the needs of adolescents. Our unique secondary school program that reimagines Maria Montessori’s vision for adolescent education in the context of our modern world through our Identity Development (iD) framework to develop a sense of personal agency.

Through the iD framework we have identified 3 virtues at each stage of development.  

Elementary Virtues: In the area of childhood development there are 3 characteristics that mark this period of time:

• Awareness: where students start to form their own identity and an understanding of the society around them. 
• Morals & Ethics: where students transition from doing what is socially acceptable, to what they believe is the right or wrong thing to do.
• Flow: where students learn how to stay engaged for longer periods of time.  They also learn how to take pride and a sense of accomplishment in their work.

Middle School Virtues:  In the area of early adolescent development there are 3 characteristics that mark this period of time:

• Reflection: look inwards to the thoughts, behaviors and actions of yourself and others.
• Empathy: an understanding of other people’s perspectives (for both peers and adults)
• Wonder: our natural, inborn curiosity about life, increasing our capacity to be enthusiastic explorers of the outer physical world through our senses.

High School Virtues:  In the area of late adolescent development there are 3 characteristics that mark this period of time:

• Networking: is the process of making connections and building relationships.
• Adaptability: is a person’s ability to adjust to different conditions or circumstances.
• Systems Thinking:  is a way of making sense of the complexity of the world by looking at it in terms of past and present conditions to anticipate the future state of things.

It is our belief that if we can excel at developing the identity and talent of our students in a prepared learning environment  we give them the best chance to express their agency and have an impact on society.