Grace has a long tradition of high academic expectations, which prepare to students to excel in future academic pursuits. The curriculum is designed around a “three-legged stool.” Each leg works with the others to build a foundation for the curricular and pedagogical decisions that define a Grace education.
The first leg of the stool is that the school seeks traditional outcomes. We believe there are things you need to know and things you need to know how to do. As students progress through the school they take classes in traditional academic areas: English, 数学, 历史/社会研究, 科学, 包括拉丁语在内的外语, 哲学与伦理学, 技术, 体育课, 表演和视觉艺术.
Our goal though is not to jam as much information into our students’ heads as possible. 在现代经济中, people will need a salient amount of knowledge to ask smart questions and understand the answers.
The second leg of the stool is that students have different learning style preferences, 因此, 我们有不同的教学方式, 学习与评估. The majority of students do not have a single learning style preference, 而是学习方式的结合. Some of the most interesting and challenging projects that students take on incorporate multiple learning styles.
凳子的最后一脚是快乐的教育学. Students who have a positive self-concept are going to be more effective and happier. 感觉与其他学生有联系的学生, 老师, 教练, 父母们——感到安全, which provides a key ingredient for student success. 学生需要有一种成就感, in that what they do is meaningful to them and to others. When these three things happen for students, they are joyful learners.