Chapter A - APA Model

Part 1.0 - Mission and Vision

Section 1.2 - What We Believe

Policy Statement:

What We Believe

A public school's central mission is two-fold:

1. To ensure that each student achieves maximum academic proficiency, and
2. To ensure that each student develops virtuous character and motivation for productive citizenry

That thereby, students become effective citizens of a free nation, and have the intelligence, skills and desire to dedicate a portion of their lives to changing the world for the better.

The trust of the citizens of our nation, expressed in their hard-earned tax dollars flowing to our public schools, must be maintained through strict accountability to these two objectives, and repaid by students who benefit from that public trust by their diligence, hard work and commitment to community.

American Preparatory Schools accomplishes this central mission espousing the following tenets:

1.  Schools achieve maximum academic success and student proficiency by:
   •  teaching skills to mastery levels,
   • imparting valuable knowledge,
   • transmitting the common culture that binds us as a nation, and
   • exposing children to supreme examples of artistic and intellectual achievement.
2. Mastery of a fundamental core of knowledge is essential to a child's achievement in later grades. Material should be coherent, sequential, content-rich, and challenging, and must be taught to mastery level by the teacher.
3.  Standardized testing is an essential tool for measuring student learning and teacher success.
4.  The formation of good character goes hand in hand with mental training.
5.  Serious scholarship requires a willing and enthusiastic mind, self-discipline, determination, patience, and humility.
6.  All children can learn, although their pace may differ, and their response to higher standards is improved performance.
7.  The school must be structured to support parents so that they may play an active role in all aspects of their child's education.

Thank you to Cheyenne Mountain Charter Academy for sharing some of these tenets with us.