Methodology

Methodology

Interested in joining the Presidio Family?

Presidio School’s methodology takes into account the academic, social, and civic readiness of our students to ensure life-long success. Listed below you will find the components utilized by Presidio to meet this challenging and critical goal. 

Mastery Learning

Mastery Learning is founded on the concept that all children can learn, but all children do not learn in the same way or at the same pace.  Through mastery learning instructors re-teach concepts for students who may need a different modality of instruction or more time on task to master a particular academic standard.  Re-teaching and allowing for additional opportunities to demonstrate a high level of mastery improves student self-esteem, increases student confidence in tackling difficult concepts and subject matter, and provides the student with a strong foundation for future learning. Presidio School’s mastery learning proficiency level is 75%.  If a student scores below a 75% on a certain assignment, he/she is provided with additional instruction and an opportunity to “re-do” the assignment or complete an alternate assignment aligned with the standard being taught.  

Core Knowledge

The idea behind Core Knowledge® is simple and powerful: knowledge builds on knowledge. The more you know, the more you are able to learn. This insight, well-established by cognitive science, has profound implications for teaching and learning. Nearly all of our most important goals for education–greater reading comprehension, the ability to think critically and solve problems, even higher test scores–are a function of the depth and breadth of our knowledge.

By outlining the precise content that every child should learn in language arts and literature, history and geography, mathematics, science, music, and the visual arts, the Core Knowledge® curriculum represents a first-of-its-kind effort to identify the foundational knowledge every child needs to reach these goals–and to teach it, grade-by-grade, year-by-year, in a coherent, age-appropriate sequence.

College Prep

Preparation for success in college begins in kindergarten and continues throughout early education, middle school and high school. Thus, Presidio School offers high rigor courses at every grade level that prepare college bound students for meeting the more stringent scholastic requirements for entry into colleges and universities and helps ensure their continued success subsequent to enrollment. 

Civic Readiness

Civic readiness is foundational to Presidio’s college and career preparedness goal. Civic readiness skills encompass collaboration, communication, teamwork, critical and rational thinking, problem solving, creativity, and innovation. Students are taught to have a belief in the power of their own voices and actions and that they need to be equipped with the skills and knowledge necessary to engage responsibly in our democracy, make informed decisions, and enhance our interconnected world. In order to be civically ready, students must also have civic knowledge which includes a fundamental understanding of the structure and function of government, civic rights, civic responsibilities, and the processes by which laws and policies are made. Civic knowledge also includes an understanding of the history and how it shapes the present and how geography, demography, and economics impact local, state and national policies.  

Character Counts

The CHARACTER COUNTS!® approach to character education doesn’t exclude anyone. That’s why we base our programs and materials on six ethical values that everyone can agree on — values that are not political, religious, or culturally biased. These six ethical values are known as the six pillars of character.

These pillars are Trustworthiness, Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, Caring, and Citizenship. The Six Pillars act as a multi-level filter through which to process decisions. So, being trustworthy is not enough — we must also be caring. Adhering to the letter of the law is not enough — we must accept responsibility for our action or inaction.

The Pillars can help us detect situations where we focus so hard on upholding one moral principle that we sacrifice another — where, intent on holding others accountable, we ignore the duty to be compassionate; where, intent on getting a job done, we ignore how. In short, the Six Pillars can dramatically improve the ethical quality of our decisions, and thus our character and lives.