Wallace Stegner | Our Secret Sauce

Our Secret Sauce

How do we achieve such high student satisfaction and test scores?

Students learn to stand up and express themselves in complete sentences.

Teachers are the number 1 factor in the success of a child’s academic education, and we have the best-trained teachers. Our teachers receive over 100 in-class training sessions and evaluations per year (compared to just 1 to 2 at a traditional school). They also receive over two weeks of in-service training days per year compared to 2-4 days at a traditional school.
Personalized Math and Reading classes that start where your child is ready to start. Not everyone is in the same place and we get that.
Students in every grade receive science instruction every day, most schools don’t start daily science instruction until middle school. By teaching science every day, we aren’t just preparing them for the jobs of the future; we are capitalizing on the natural curiosity of children
WSA students are taught how to stay organized with daily learning planners and binders.
We offer for all students to attend daily study hall / tutoring hall / library time / music program from 3:30-4:30. This creates a culture of reading, and studying and homework time that will be vital for our students in their future college years.
All students (even kindergartners!) get to attend PE, Music, and Art classes taught by trained teachers in those fields.

We don’t ask parents to bake brownies or sell wrapping paper for the school; we want something more important! At WSA, parents sign a compact with the school promising to do everything they can to ensure their child’s academic success. This includes checking student’s learning planners every night, and reading to their children for a minimum of 30 minutes every night.
We set the bar high and students rise to meet it! This is what we mean when we say high expectations:
All students are called on to answer questions and express their thoughts throughout every lesson.
Homework is provided daily.
Quizzes and studying are part of the school’s culture.
Students are taught to speak and answer questions in complete, and grammatically correct sentences. We call this the language of opportunity.
Classrooms operate with a sense of urgency. There’s so much to learn!
Teachers and parents have each other’s cell phone numbers and teachers hand out business cards with their cell phone numbers to all parents because we know communication is vital to student success.