Principal's Page
Welcome to EPA!
Great News!
The Texas Education Agency has approved our request to add on high school and PreK-3 and Prek-4 at this campus. They have also approved our request to open another elementary campus next year.
The high school will begin with 9th grade next year and we will make do with the space we have for one more year. The science lab will move back into the annex next year. The 6th through 9th graders will use the science lab as well as the current middle school space. They will also have some classes in the auditorium. During the year, we will make decisions about portable placement and plans for the next three years. It is our goal to move the middle school and high school to a separate campus for the 2016-2017 school year. That means that this year's eighth graders will graduate from our campus!
Plans for the middle school/high school include a college bound curriculum with a focus on science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). The course work will be rigorous and expectations will be high. Because of our small size, all of our course offerings will be geared for Advanced Placement qualification. Students should be able to leave their senior year with a head start on college either through AP programs or Dual Enrollment programs in which they will get credit for both high school and college classes in the same course. This will be a wonderful opportunity for your child if they are serious about their education and want to be well prepared for college. Since our current crop of middle school students will be the first ones through the program, they will have a large say in how and what we do. Students will have options for taking band, choir, along with arts and humanities, Spanish language and PE during this first year. An introduction to engineering class is possible during this first year also. Offerings will grow as the program does. Ninth grade students will take Biology, English I, Algebra, World Geography along with electives. They will help us decide on what electives will be offered and what types of off campus learning opportunities we will offer.
The new elementary campus will hopefully be located south of the river and east of IH35. It will be open to PreK-3 through 2nd grade in the first year, with three classes of each grade and adding on a grade each year through 5th grade. The sixth graders will have the option of continuing at the EPA middle school after that time. We are looking closely at the possibility of doing and International Baccalaureate program for the new campus. The IB program's website for the elementary program is at http://www.ibo.org/pyp/curriculum/.
At the heart of the IB program's philosophy is a commitment to structured, purposeful inquiry as the leading vehicle for learning.
Six transdisciplinary themes
Six transdisciplinary themes of global significance provide the framework for exploration and study:
*who we are
*where we are in place and time
*how we express ourselves
*how the world works
*how we organize ourselves
*sharing the planet.
Teachers are guided by these six transdisciplinary themes as they design units of inquiry that both transcend and articulate conventional subject boundaries.
The program can be illustrated by a hexagon with the six transdisciplinary themes surrounding six subject areas:
*Language
*social studies
*mathematics
*arts
*science
*personal, social and physical education.
The transdisciplinary themes and subject areas outlined above form the knowledge element of the program.
Five essential elements
The five essential element concepts, knowledge, skills, attitudes, action are incorporated into this framework, so that students are given the opportunity to:
*gain knowledge that is relevant and of global significance
*develop an understanding of concepts, which allows them to make connections throughout their learning
*acquire transdisciplinary and disciplinary skills
*develop attitudes that will lead to international-mindedness
*take action as a consequence of their learning.
Curriculum model
The curriculum is expressed in three interrelated ways:
*the written curriculum what do we want to learn?
*the taught curriculum how best will we learn?
*the assessed curriculum how will we know what we have learned?
Under certain conditions, schools may deliver the program in any language, although the IB provides services in:
*English
*French
*Spanish.
More information soon to follow.
If you have any questions, please call us at school at 383-0613, or email me at lrobinson@edenparkacademy.com.
Lisa Robinson, Director