Features of iSchool High

All iSchool Academies are college-preparatory. Students will be involved, at various levels, with university-style expectations and learning. College credits can be achieved through the Dual Credit program. In some instances, Advanced Placement studies will be offered. Students will be encouraged to apply for Universities and Colleges after high school. Staff will assist families and students in applying for scholarships when requested.

The Learning Model

All ischool Academies utilize the Executive Learning model.

Executive – “a person or entity that has the ability to make and implement decisions”

Decision-making education. At this point in a student’s educational journey, earning credits and progressing toward the conclusion of the journey seems to become the only goal. However, as they move into adulthood, students should be offered a diverse menu of academic opportunities that can not only help them achieve graduation but also lead them to be entrepreneurs and leaders now and in the future.

The element of Connected Instruction, project-based and student-centric, takes center stage during this stage of learning. Educators cannot miss the opportunity to shepherd and lead students to be and become everything they should be as they progress into adulthood. Teenagers are capable of so much more than they are given credit for and Executive Learning (decision-making power) gives them the freedom and capability to use their creativity and dreams to accomplish more than a diploma.

This stage demands a rethinking of the role for educators. The independent environment is not a free-for-all, standards-free process. Rather, it is an intentional system designed to teach character and responsibility, allow freedom for individualism and creativity, and ensure effective learning for each student. Educators must see themselves as more than possessors of content. They must position themselves as true facilitators of character building and true mentors of creative and competent teenagers.

All ischool Academies are character-based centers of learning. Knowledge is good, wisdom is better. ischool students will be involved in character education, wisdom-building, and leadership development. Students will increase in knowledge but it’s vital they increase in wisdom as well. Character education, based on a conservative world-view, supports and strengthens the application of wisdom and knowledge.

All ischool Academies will be project-based learning centers. Connected Instruction, designed to encourage student-centered projects and endeavors, will employ internships, entrepreneurship, community service, and creative ventures conceived and generated by students.