The Pacem School

What makes Pacem exceptional?

• Student self-direction: We give students control over their own learning, help them set goals, reflect on the results, and consider the ways they learn best.
• Students are known and cherished: We create a warm and welcoming environment for every community member and foster close relationships among students and between students and faculty.
• Outstanding faculty: Our exceptional faculty are all experts in their fields. With a very low student-faculty ratio, teachers tailor each class to the needs and interests of individual students.
• Academic excellence: We use diverse curricula that provide a strong foundation in language arts, math, science, fine arts, and historical and cultural understanding.
• Building connections: Through daily morning meetings, mindfulness exercises, collaborative decision-making, conflict resolution trainings, and community service, we guide to be socially and environmentally responsible citizens in and out of school.
• Outdoor activity: We spend time outside every day. This connects us to the natural world, and allows us to recharge, refocus, and build friendships.

Educational Approach
At Pacem, our educational approach seeks to balance student self-direction with the teacher guidance needed to ensure depth of understanding and mastery of concepts. We foster the pursuit of individual intellectual and creative passions.Class content is meant to be meaningful and connected-to the student`s interests, to other classes when possible, and to the real world beyond the classroom. While we want our students to be informed and well-rounded, we often focus on depth, preferring to teach concepts and facts through deeper study of fewer topics, rather than to provide a shallow overview of an entire field of study. Students work collaboratively, in pairs and small groups, as well as individually. Teachers are conscious of different learning styles and seek to engage students in class activities using a variety of approaches. Complete course descriptions are at http://pacemschool.org/academics/course-descriptions/

Organization
Pacem does not organize our students by grade level. Instead, students take classes appropriate for their level of knowledge, skill, and development. Because of our small size and ungraded structure, students are grouped loosely by age range. Our middle school program serves students ages 10-14, roughly equivalent to grades 5-8. Our high school program serves students ages 14-18