Welcome to SPA!

OUR MISSION: Shaping the minds and the hearts of the people who will change the world. 

Too many students live, both literally and figuratively, at the back of the classroom.

SPA is different. There is no back of the classroom here. Our core belief in the power of personal accountability has led us to create the "accountable classroom": a small and vibrant learning community where master teachers discover and strengthen individual talents. But the accountable classroom is much more. It’s a place where children of all ages learn that they have a responsibility to engage and contribute. Every day. In every class. Because the class is only as good as the students and teacher make it, together. The ensuing discourse teaches students to respect the input of others even as they begin to recognize their own talents.

Critical thinking and imagination are both important here. We engage the whole student and the whole brain to produce college-ready graduates with supple minds that can synthesize, invent and build – individually or in teams.

In preparing students for college, we must also prepare them for life. At SPA, students are challenged by what we believe is the best academic curriculum in Minnesota. Caring support is a constant, but students will come to know hard work and high standards before they graduate. We believe that our culture of support and academic rigor teaches resilience and a love of learning.  It also creates a community where people are judged based on what they contribute, not what they have.

It takes a special kind of faculty and leadership to cultivate an accountable, yet innovative culture. But for those who are the very best at what they do, SPA provides the freedom, time and resources to really focus on the students. In turn, the students inspire our staff to do the best work of their lives in fulfilling the school's mission: shaping the minds and the hearts of the people who will change the world.