For more than 100 years, St. Paul Academy and Summit School has offered a challenging academic program that inspires our students to achieve excellence at every level.
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The K-12 Academic Program
In our second century, we continue to educate our children to be independent lifelong learners and leaders who are able to work and play across cultural and geographic boundaries with compassion, creativity and wisdom. Ongoing curricular review and development, supported by the Wark and Stringer Curriculum Development Grants, assure the continuity and coherent sequence of skills and content as a student moves through the K-12 curriculum.
The Lower School Program (Kindergarten - Grade 5)
Designed to excite and challenge young students and to nurture the joy of learning, the SPA Lower School program is focused on an interdisciplinary homeroom curriculum. In multi-age classrooms, teams of teachers integrate skills and concepts from language arts, social studies, and mathematics. Through active learning experiences, the curriculum encourages students to think critically, communicate effectively, develop creatively, understand and apply mathematical concepts, and explore the relationships of people to their physical and social environments.
Computer and library research skills are taught in an integrated way, connected to the content of the homeroom curriculum. Beyond the homeroom, students also pursue a regular program in each of the “specials”—classes taught by talented specialists—science, Spanish, art, Orff-Schulwerk music, and physical education.
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The Middle School Program (Grades 6 - 8)
Our Middle School is designed for the unique educational, developmental and emotional needs of early adolescents. The Developmental Designs approach in advisories and classrooms encourages students to broaden their intellectual boundaries, push themselves to achieve their personal best, and venture across differences with compassion and understanding.
Middle School students have exciting new opportunities and choices: science and language classes are part of the core curriculum; they can choose to begin a new foreign language and a new musical instrument; all seventh graders receive laptop computers; and they have a new social community. Middle Schoolers have increased academic responsibilities as well as increased freedom.
The academic program emphasizes wide-ranging exploration as well as focused attention on skill development in each discipline. While most Middle School classes are department-based, teachers work together at the grade level to integrate concepts and skills whenever possible.
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The Upper School Program (Grades 9-12)
SPA teaches an independent, rigorous college preparatory curriculum with a broad liberal arts emphasis to all students. Class sizes averaging 14 students support interactive discussions and close student-faculty connections. Teaching at SPA is student-centered and discussion-oriented. Through small classes and interaction with faculty and peers, students learn to think for themselves and develop communication, problem-solving and analytical skills. Teachers expect high levels of concentration, engaging classroom discussions and creativity in homework assignments. As students move from grade to grade, the program offers greater independence and academic choice and fosters collaboration with faculty and classmates. Faculty incorporate Harkness pedagogy with a focus on thoughtful student preparation prior to class, active student listening and leadership within classes, and increased student responsibility for individual and collective learning.
SPA teaches a hand-crafted and intellectually challenging liberal arts curriculum which, in many disciplines, goes well beyond the designated Advanced Placement (AP) curriculum. Students who are successful in our curriculum are well-prepared to be successful on the AP exams, if they choose to take them. We do not teach designated AP courses that focus exclusively on and require all students to take these tests, yet our teachers are familiar with the AP content and will advise students who are interested in preparing for APs in a variety of subjects. All of our junior/senior English literature electives, for instance, prepare our students to be successful on the English language AP exam. Our regular math track culminates in a Calculus course which prepares students to be successful on the AB Calculus exam; students in our honors math track are prepared for the BC Calculus AP exam. All of the language courses at the fifth level prepare students for the AP Language exam in French, German, Spanish or Chinese. In a typical year, about 35 students in grades 10-12 choose to take 50-60 AP exams in 10-15 subjects. About 70% earn a score of 4 or 5; over 90% earn a score of 3 or better.
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The K-12 Faculty
In the words of one teacher, "Every day I challenge myself to live the joy of learning and, in the process, to teach it to my students." SPA attracts an outstanding group of talented and creative faculty who encourage our students to discover and develop their own intellectual passions. Small class sizes enable dedicated faculty members to devote close attention both to the excellence of their curriculum and to the individual needs of their students. Teachers in every division particularly value their close relationships with students and the strong sense of community.
Our teachers are highly trained and experienced; two-thirds have advanced academic degrees and a number have doctorates. Through the generous support of the Lilly Faculty Development Fund, SPA faculty are learning more about their subject matter, their students and themselves