Academic Program Overview
Discoverers (Kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd Grades)
Goals for the Discoverers Program address the whole child, including cognitive and affective skills. The curriculum balances advanced mental ability with differing student interests, various levels of life experience, and diverse levels of motor and emotional development. Subject matter has high levels of interest and stretches student cognitive skills and personal horizons.
Investigators (3rd, 4th and 5th Grades)
The focus for the Investigators Program is more structured investigations. Problem finding and problem solving, making connections among important concepts, and self-direction are the rule. The foundations of this program level are Significant Content, Adjusted Pacing, Conceptual/Thematic Organization, Complex Problem Solving, Study of People, and Self-Directed Learning/Authentic Inquiry.
Apprentice Scholars (6th, 7th, and 8th Grades)
The focusing concept for this program is the cognitive apprenticeship. Students learn information, skills, and dispositions used by experts through work in an advanced body of knowledge, authentic research skills, analytic/critical reasoning, communication, and social responsibility. The ideas, problems, and explorations Apprentice Scholars encounter in their studies will be representative of the work of professionals. Mentorships and Nature of Knowing Seminars are self-selected extensions of the Apprentice Scholars program.
Enrichments (All Grades)
A comprehensive program for highly gifted children must include a variety of experiential areas that "enrich" a student's understanding of themselves and the world around them. These experiences should enhance understanding of the physical self (physical fitness and health), the arts (music and art) and the broader world stage (Chinese and Spanish). Enrichment provides information, adds greater value, and increases awareness and knowledge. Enrichment classes at the Scholars Academy provide unique opportunities for our children to participate in a range of activities that support this important feature of our mission.