The St. Paul Preparatory School curriculum was developed under three principles: flexibility, clarity, and current best practices.
The curriculum is reviewed and updated annually to reflect these practices. Additionally, teachers are trained in best teaching practices and delivering the curriculum. Finally, the curriculum focuses on skills, learning targets, and developing English proficiency.
The standards used at St. Paul Prep were chosen, because they are more familiar to a wider range of teachers and have a wider, more flexible language with far-reaching applicability.
This is a benefit to not only the teachers, but also for the international students to have further applicability to the numerous cultures and experiences within each school. With a larger selection of aligned content, the standards chosen, as listed below, allow for flexibility within the curriculum.
Common Core State Standards
State education chiefs and governors in 48 states came together to develop the Common Core, a set of clear college- and career-ready standards for kindergarten through 12th grade in English language arts/literacy and mathematics.
Next Generation Science Standards
The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) are K–12 science content standards. Standards set the expectations for what students should know and be able to do. The NGSS were developed by states to improve science education for all students.
AERO (American Education Reaches Out)
AERO standards are social studies standards for K-12 that were developed for international schools. The standards focus on first-tier content or skills as opposed to second-tier content or specific historical examples.
Standards for Additional Subjects
All additional subjects will be aligned with national standards that share the universal applicability and elasticity of the standards of the core subjects. They include SHAPE America (Society of Health and Physical Educators), National Core Arts Standards, ACTFL (Foreign Language Learning Standards), ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education), and the CSTA (Computer Science Teachers Association) for technology-based classrooms.
St. Paul Preparatory School utilizes a systematic approach in maintaining a quality educational program. The following standards must be met for a course to be recognized for credit at St. Paul Preparatory School.