At Charleston Collegiate School we maintain high academic expectations for our students in all divisions. We create our curriculum and develop our instructional methodologies to meet the needs of all learners, placing special emphasis on challenging high academic achievers. Academic rigor at Charleston Collegiate, however, may not look like the traditional framework that includes hours of homework and memorization of long lists of facts. Our students are empowered to become actively invested in their education and contribute to their own learning process and the learning community at large. Therefore, through more demanding instruction in the classroom, a primary goal of CCS teachers is to inspire and instill in students the desire to take responsibility for their education and success and to think critically and problem solve. CCS challenges students to become lifelong learners invested in discovering, creating, and sharing knowledge.
In the Lower and Middle Schools, teachers provide high-achieving students with extra academic challenge through differentiation of instruction and assessment. In other words, depending on the needs of an individual student, he or she may be asked to answer a more rigorous critical thinking question on a test where a more descriptive and reflective response is expected. Students may be directed toward more challenging novels or higher-level topics of study while conducting an investigative project as they are ready to do so. At Charleston Collegiate, working at a high academic level does not mean having to do more or longer homework assignments, but rather more in-depth and thought-provoking ones. Lower and Middle School students are also able to participate in accelerated upper-level math and Spanish courses as their proficiency level in these areas demonstrates readiness for these challenges.
In the Upper School, Honors or Advanced Placement (AP) level class are offered in each of the core academic subjects. An Upper School student may opt to take an Honors or AP class, in the areas in which he or she excels. An Upper School student must maintain an 85 average in an Honors class and an 80 average in AP class to remain in the class and to receive the Honors credit distinction on his or her transcript. Also in the Upper School, those students who are in the Honors courses will have their grades weighted for class rank and for in-state college and scholarship applications. Excelling in Honors courses also looks great on college applications!
If you have questions about the academic rigor and challenge at Charleston Collegiate, please contact your division head to discuss these opportunities.
Lower School: Patricia Ferris, ext. 228
Middle School: Bobby Hemingway, ext. 226
Upper School: Gretchen Batalis, ext. 229
