a bright spot for bright kids...
Student Supports
A progressive curriculum is designed by identifying student areas of interest and passion, incorporating a rich program of cross-curricular courses of study, and implementing student-centered assessment to determine measures for success. While our curriculum can be confusing for people more used to a “TV-tray” version of content, our staff and students are easily able to deconstruct units to directly tie content-specific strands back to national and state standards. We know from research on gifted and talented students that integrated curriculum is the best fit for minds that naturally want to find connections and deeper meaning that are not allowed for in traditionally structured limited-content coursework.
Your self-awareness and self-actualization are a big part of what it means to be a learner, and an even more important part of understanding who you are in relationship with and to others. We are a community that loves each other as much as we love this place!
From physical systems and structures that support socioemotional health to staff members who work with kids in intrinsic ways, mental health is a critical part of our overall mission and practice and is emphasized as part of our everyday activity.
Reasonable accommodations for unique needs are always available, but identifying kids as a “problem” or diagnosis rather than a kid first is problematic and is not our practice. We have a 40-year history of working with kids who have many of the overlapping special needs typical in our gifted population. We see and know your kid.
JOY – to actually enjoy material, laugh together, use puns, play games, spend some time banging on the drum, run through the building, sing and dance together, and literally skip out of here each day. We love what we do here. Big kids do, too.