We provide a rigorous, college-preparatory, liberal arts education that meets and exceeds Common Core State Standards. Classical education is rooted in the best of time-honored educational practices. The traditional liberal arts are Grammar, Logic, Rhetoric, Arithmetic, Geometry, Astronomy, and Music; the study of these prepared students for the study of Philosophy. Today, a classical curriculum is based on the first three liberal arts, which together are called the Trivium. Students are taught the grammar, or basic knowledge, in each subject. Young students readily learn rhymes, stories, language, vocabulary, arithmetic, and facts. As knowledge grows, students want to know not just “what” but “why.” They learn logic and critical thinking skills through reading ideas and arguments of others, by contemplating knowledge, truth, and ideas, and by discussing and practicing. Mature students learn rhetoric to express their ideas eloquently and persuade others. Throughout their study of the Trivium, students are trained in virtues and core values, such as citizenship, cooperation, courage, honesty, integrity, perseverance, respect, and responsibility.
Classes at Excelsior Classical Academy are taught using a variety of methods, including direct instruction, Socratic questioning, class discussion, seminars, read-alouds, research projects, and writing assignments. Students work individually and in groups. Information throughout grade levels is presented in an integrated fashion, emphasizing the connections between areas of knowledge and reinforcing what students are learning.
Each day, our students and staff will recite the Student Creed. It is a reminder and a promise to each other about the ways in which we must act and treat each other if we are to be the school we strive to be. Our student creed is as follows:
I will treat others as I would like to be treated.
I will respect the rights and property of others.
I will be honest and responsible.
I will be a good citizen of my school, doing what I can to make it a place of learning and growth.
There are two achievement gaps that exist in this country. One might be termed the quality gap. American students lag behind students in 16 other developed nations in measures of reading and academic achievement. This will make it difficult for the average student educated in America to compete in the global economy. The other gap, which we can call the fairness gap, exists between privileged and underprivileged students. Underprivileged children hear far fewer words at home in their early years, and the language they hear is less rich in complexity and variety of structure. Because much of our learning of vocabulary is implicit, from repeatedly hearing words used in context, underprivileged children start school with a vocabulary knowledge deficit that is a handicap to learning, as learning builds on prior knowledge.
The way to mitigate both of these types of gaps is to use a rich, coherent, consecutive curriculum that provides the knowledge students need in order for them to comprehend what they read, so that they can learn even more. The Core Knowledge Sequence is just such a curriculum. This sequence is predicated on the realization that what children are able to learn at any given moment depends on what they already know—and, equally important, that what they know is a function of previous experience and teaching. Although current events and technology are constantly changing, there is a body of lasting knowledge and skills that form the core of a strong Kindergarten through eighth grade curriculum. Explicit identification of what children should learn at each grade level ensures a coherent approach to building knowledge across all grade levels. Every child should learn the fundamentals of science, basic principles of government, important events in world history, essential elements of mathematics, widely acknowledged masterpieces of art and music from around the world, and stories and poems passed down from generation to generation.
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 significant 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.
At Excelsior Classical Academy, we faithfully and rigorously implement the Core Knowledge Sequence in grades K through 8.
Students in sixth through eighth grade study Latin as part of the grammar aspect of the classical curriculum. The study of Latin helps build students’ vocabularies and improves their understanding of grammar in English. Numerous evaluations of Latin study programs have shown that students who take Latin improve in a wide variety of areas, including reading comprehension, vocabulary, and even math and critical thinking skills, with underprivileged children making the greatest gains. (Efficacy of Latin Studies in the Information Age, Alice K. DeVane, 1997)
Throughout the grades, students are trained to think critically and to support their answers. They learn formal and informal logic in ninth grade Logic class, and continue to learn and apply logic in math classes, statistics, history, and much more. The study of logic is foundational to many other areas of study, and provides reasoning skills that are useful in almost every area of life.
Juniors take rhetoric to learn to express themselves eloquently and persuasively, using logos, pathos, and ethos. They practice both writing and public speaking. The capstone of the classical education at Excelsior Classical Academy is the senior thesis. Students write, present, and field questions about a paper on a topic of their choice.
Martin Luther King, Jr, in an essay written in 1947 for his college newspaper, wrote, “It seems to me that education has a two-fold function to perform in the life of man and in society: the one is utility and the other is culture. Education must enable a man to become more efficient, to achieve with increasing facility the legitimate goals of his life. … Education must also train one for quick, resolute and effective thinking. To think incisively and to think for one’s self is very difficult. … Education must enable one to sift and weigh evidence, to discern the true from the false, the real from the unreal, and the facts from the fiction. The function of education, therefore, is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. But education which stops with efficiency may prove the greatest menace to society. The most dangerous criminal may be the man gifted with reason, but with no morals. … We must remember that intelligence is not enough. Intelligence plus character–that is the goal of true education. The complete education gives one not only power of concentration, but worthy objectives upon which to concentrate.”
At Excelsior Classical Academy, we believe that education is incomplete without the character component. Character education will be integrated into daily lessons and emphasized through our student creed, our honor code, assemblies, posters, announcements, and bulletin boards. Students will participate in service learning courses in middle and high school. Teachers and staff will model the behaviors and character traits we wish to instill in our students.
Beyond providing wide background knowledge that can help with reading comprehension, studying the arts gives further benefits. A new National Endowment for the Arts Research Report shows potential benefits of Arts Education for at-risk youth. Those who study the arts have better academic outcomes, higher career goals, and are more civically-engaged. Studying the arts can also enhance creativity, creative thinking, and problem solving. Learning about the arts and cultures around the world, past and present, provides a better cross-cultural understanding and a greater comprehension of what it is to be human.
At Excelsior Classical Academy, arts education is integrated into the Core Knowledge Sequence, and students have Special Classes in Art, Dance, Drama, and Music in addition to PE. Elective and P.E. options in Upper School include Music, Drama, Visual Art, and Dance.
Parents in the United States often hear (and stress about) how students in other countries perform better than our children in math and science. A country that has consistently been at or near the very top in performance is Singapore. Singapore math, which refers to the teaching methods or the actual curriculum used for kindergarten through sixth grade in the small island country, has become popular due to Singapore’s consistent top ranking on an international assessment of student math achievement called the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). In the latest TIMSS report in 2007, Singapore was ranked in the top three in fourth- and eighth-grade math scores, while the United States ranked ninth and eleventh, respectively. Supporters of Singapore math credit the Singaporean methods of instruction and curriculum for its students’ success. While American math instruction often relies on drilling and memorization of many skills each year, Singapore math focuses on children not just learning but also truly mastering a limited number of concepts each school year. The goal is for children to perform well because they understand the material on a deeper level; they are not just learning it for the test. Singapore math uses a concrete-pictorial-abstract sequence to help students gain deep understanding.
Excelsior Classical Academy uses Singapore Math through grade 5. We will hold sessions at the beginning of the year to help parents understand the Singapore system, as it is different from the way most parents learned math.
It is generally acknowledged that physical activity helps keep students fit and healthy, but numerous studies have shown that there are also academic benefits to physical activity.
According to the National Association for Sport and Physical Education, physical activity can:
Excelsior Classical Academy is committed to providing each student the opportunity for a minimum of a half hour of physical activity a day while at school.
There are many reasons to study Spanish. By studying Spanish, students gain a better understanding of English. Spanish is a Romance language, or one that it is based on Latin, the language of the ancient Roman Empire. Many English words are also of Latin origin, and learning vocabulary in Spanish reinforces understanding of English cognates. Also, when studying Spanish grammar, students become more aware of English grammar as they notice the similarities and differences. Because Spanish is very nearly phonetically perfect, pronunciation is relatively consistent and easy to learn. When it comes to learning other Romance languages, such as French or Italian, already knowing Spanish is an advantage.
There are over 42 million Spanish speakers aged 5 and under in the United States and it is the second most common language in this country – 12 times greater than the next four most common languages. Spanish is the mother tongue in 21 countries. In Europe, Spanish is the second most popular second language, after English. With some 538 million speakers, Spanish is the fourth most commonly spoken language in the world. Only Mandarin, English, and Hindi have more speakers. The sheer number of Spanish speakers and their rate of growth makes learning Spanish a logical choice.
Learning any language in addition to one’s native language expands one’s horizons. With today’s focus on global awareness for students and the popularity of the Spanish language in our country and our world, learning Spanish is an obvious choice. All students will study Spanish at Excelsior Classical Academy in grades Kindergarten through 4th, as a required elective in 5th, and elective choice in 6th – 8th.
The research of Dr. Carol Dweck, world-renowned psychologist, shows that there are two kinds of mindsets, fixed and growth. In a fixed mindset, people believe their basic qualities, like their intelligence or talent, are simply fixed traits. They spend their time documenting their intelligence or talent instead of developing them. They also believe that talent alone creates success–without effort. Their idea is that the necessity of effort shows lack of intelligence. In a growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work–brains and talent are just the starting point. This view creates a love of learning and a resilience that is essential for great accomplishment. According to a study by Aronson, Fried, and Good (2001), thinking about intelligence as changeable and malleable, rather than stable and fixed, results in greater academic achievement, especially for people whose groups bear the burden of negative stereotypes about their intelligence.
At Excelsior Classical Academy, we recognize that intelligence is malleable, and we will teach our students that it is. We will cultivate the growth mindset by praising students for effort rather than ability, and by encouraging diligence and hard work. We will support those who need extra help, and we will challenge those to whom learning comes easily.
For an 11-minute TED Talk on fixed and growth mindsets, please see the video below “TED Talk: The Power of Belief.”
According to a study by Vanessa St. Gerard, students lose skills in math and spelling, and many also lose reading skills, during their traditional summer vacations. This loss is greater for economically disadvantaged children. Further time is lost because of the review necessary when they return to school. Gerard mentions benefits of year-round school beyond avoiding summer “brain drain”: there are vacations more often to break up the long stretch of school and refresh both the staff and students, and there is the possibility that during these breaks remedial and enrichment classes can be offered (“Year-Round Schools Look Better All the Time”, 2007).
The calendar at Excelsior Classical Academy will provide at least the same number of instructional hours as a traditional school calendar, with a shorter break in the summer. The decreased time off in summer will help keep students focused and reduce the amount of review that is necessary at the beginning of the school year. In addition to the shorter summer break, Excelsior Classical Academy will have one to three week breaks in the fall, winter, and spring. This will make the school year more coherent and will be conducive to an attitude of continual learning. An added benefit is the reduced significance of between-grade transitions. The modified year-round academic calendar fits very well with our coherent, sequential curriculum.
In addition to required state tests, Excelsior gives national tests such as NWEA MAP at least twice a year to monitor student progress. Scores will be used to monitor growth, and diagnostics from the test producer will be used to target areas of need. The administration and teaching staff hold themselves accountable for the progress and growth of all students, regardless of students’ backgrounds or situations.
Joan Lange was a leader in educational reform her entire career. Serving as team leader, department head, and curriculum committee chair several times, she was recognized by her peers as a Lindbergh Leader and Teacher of the Year at Ocoee Elementary. Ms. Lange actively participated in the piloting of the Core Knowledge Sequence at Three Oaks Elementary School in Fort Myers, FL. Later she was recruited to bring the curriculum to the middle school. She became a Core Knowledge National Consultant, training hundreds of teachers in schools across the country, and served as a presenter at the Core Knowledge National Conferences 1991-1996.
Ms. Lange joined the Challenge Foundation in 1997 after more than 20 years as a dedicated educator, quickly becoming an advocate for school choice. She served as the Challenge Foundation National Schools Director and Director of School Leadership. After several years of seeking out successful charter school models to offer Challenge Foundation grant support, she became intimately involved in the development of the TEAMCFA network of charter schools. Her work included seeking out communities in need of high quality charter schools that offer rigorous K-12 curriculum, including the Core Knowledge curriculum in grades K-8, and a college preparatory high school model. She had extensive experience serving on TEAMCFA charter school boards. Ms. Lange assisted in forming local school boards and engaging them in training that includes long range planning, fiscal responsibility, and academic best practices, including school policy, procedures and assessment. Ms. Lange holds a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Arts from Southeast Missouri University.
Blaire Benson Washington worked in marketing and public relations and was the founder and CEO of b consulting, LLC. A Durham native, she earned her bachelor’s degree in Journalism and Mass Communication with a focus in Public Relations from UNC-Chapel Hill in 2011. She spent much of her time after graduating working with non-profit organizations, both as a PR/marketing consultant and as a volunteer. Some of Blaire’s favorite clients and partners included Cherokee Gives Back, an organization that has a wonderful volunteer program based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Raise the Children, an organization that provides private education and mentorship to orphans in South Africa; and the Granville Vance Faith Initiative for Community Action, an organization that tackles significant community issues by mobilizing and motivating faith organizations in Granville and Vance counties.
After serving on Excelsior’s Founding Board, Ms. Benson moved to Seattle, Washington and earned a Master’s in Social Work and is now a Mitigation Expert for Criminal Defense.
Mark Anthony Middleton is the founder and pastor of the Abundant Hope Christian Church and the founder and CEO of Abundant Hope Incorporated. Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Mark was educated in the New York City Public Schools System. He is a graduate of North Carolina A&T State University with a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science. He received his theological training at the Duke University School of Divinity and also did course work at New York Theological Seminary. Mark was licensed and ordained to Christian Ministry at the renowned Concord Baptist Church of Christ in Brooklyn, New York where the Rev. Dr. Gary V. Simpson is the Senior Pastor.
Pastor Middleton is an award-winning essayist and a published author. His work appears in the popular African-American Devotional Bible published by the Zondervan Publishing Company. He has appeared on national television (BET) to discuss leadership in the African-American community. Pastor Middleton is a life member of the NAACP and a past Assistant State Director of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. After serving on Excelsior’s Board, Pastor Middleton was elected to Durham’s City Council and then became Mayor Pro-Tempore.
Thomas J. Nechyba is a professor of Economics and Public Policy and is the Director of the Social Science Research Institute at Duke University. His major areas of expertise are Education, Public Finance, and Education Finance.
Professor Nechyba, who received his PhD from the University of Rochester in 1994, joined the Duke faculty in 1999 after spending five years on the faculty at Stanford University. He has lectured as a Visiting Professor at the Fundacao Getulio Vargas in Rio de Janeiro and the Center for Economic Studies at the University of Munich, and he held the year-long National Fellowship at the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace at Stanford in 1998/99.
Professor Nechyba is a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research and serves as Associate Editor for the American Economic Review, International Tax and Public Finance, and The BE Journals of Economic Analysis and Policy. He has previously served as Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of Economics at Duke and is currently Department Chair.
His research, which has been funded by agencies such as the National Science Foundation and the Spencer Foundation, lies in the field of public economics, with particular focus on primary and secondary education, federalism and the functioning of local governments, as well as public policy issues relating to disadvantaged families.
Kathy Rennie earned a Bachelor’s degree in French from Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania, and a Master’s degree in Special Education from Columbia College in New York. She worked with learning disabled and emotionally disabled students at a private school in New York, a public school in New Jersey, and Durham Public Schools.
Ms. Rennie worked from 2003 to 2013 as the Finance Manager of Triangle Futbol Club, a non-profit youth soccer club of over 900 members which serves the Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill area. In 1980, she and her husband, a former Duke soccer coach, founded the Duke University Soccer Camp, a summer youth soccer camp attended by as many as 2000 players annually, and ran it until her husband left Duke to pursue other opportunities. The Rennies designed and implemented the marketing tools needed to recruit campers ages 6-18, making it one of the largest and most respected soccer camps in the country. Her duties at the Triangle Futbol Club and Duke University Soccer Camp included advertising, publicity, marketing, fundraising, budgeting, account reconciliation, hiring, office management, and payroll.
Tammy White Rodman received her ordination Dec 2009 through the Yates Baptist Association. She launched The Sanctuary Outreach Ministries, a ministry of healing and wholeness for women who have suffered abuse.
Dr. Rodman earned her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from North Carolina Central University. She did Masters level course work at Pfeiffer University in Business Administration and Health Administration. When Dr. Rodman decided to go into the Ministry, she pursued Theological training, earning a Master of Divinity degree May 2008 from Shaw University Divinity School and a Doctorate in Ministry December 2012 from United Theological Seminary with a focus in Christian Education and Urban Ministries.
She has served on the Board of Directors for Urban Ministries Homeless Shelter and for Durham Interfaith Hospitality Network (an organization which houses homeless families and their children). She also served as Board President for Durham Interfaith Hospitality Network. She has been an intern with Durham Congregations, Associations and Neighborhoods (Durham CAN), and has worked at Reality Ministries and other faith-based ministries.
Prior to going into ministry, Dr. Rodman worked at Blue Cross Blue Shield North Carolina for 14 years, holding various positions. Her last position there was Business Analyst.
Natalie Dekle earned a Bachelor of Humanities with High Distinction in Secondary Education/English from Pennsylvania State University at Harrisburg. She also received the Humanities Academic Achievement Award. Natalie is licensed to teach high school English, middle school language arts, and middle school science, with additional certification in Teaching Diverse Learners. She has taught at public and private schools in Pennsylvania and North Carolina, and at a community college in Pennsylvania. During her teaching career, Ms. Dekle was twice selected for inclusion in Who’s Who among American Teachers. At her last school, in addition to serving on the School Improvement Plan Committee and co-chairing the school’s re-accreditation committee for two re-accreditation cycles, Natalie served as a faculty representative on the School Advisory Board and advisor to the yearbook staff.
Outside of her work in education, Ms. Dekle has worked as a guest curator at the Hershey Museum and a project director at the Hershey Community Archives, researching and compiling a museum exhibit and an oral history project on the Italian Community in Hershey. She also has experience in arts administration, through her employment as Program Director at the Hershey Educational and Cultural Center and at Pinecone: Piedmont Council of Traditional Music in Raleigh. Her responsibilities at these organizations included maintaining membership records, as well as budgeting, staffing, and publicity.
Cynthia Gadol earned a BA in Statistics from the University of Georgia, after majoring in Art the first two years. She worked as a Programmer/Analyst and Technical Writer for a number of years. Ms. Gadol earned a Master of School Administration from Appalachian State University. She holds a North Carolina K-12 Principal’s license and is also licensed to teach High School Mathematics.
As one of the founding teachers at Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy, which opened in rural, western North Carolina in 1999, Ms. Gadol helped develop the high school curriculum. Over a period of twelve years she taught various courses: Art and Art History, Logic I and II, Rhetoric, Algebra I and II, Geometry, and AP Statistics. She served as Chair first for the Mathematics Department and then for the Trivium Department. She was a member of the Curriculum Committee, the Scheduling Committee, the Scholarship Committee, the School Improvement Team, and the AdvancEd Accreditation Team.
Ms. Gadol led professional development courses at TJCA on teaching critical thinking and logic throughout the curriculum, Socratic questioning, and Paideia seminars. She worked with the Drama Club, helping with sets, designing and sewing costumes, and occasionally directing and coaching. While at TJCA, she was the National Honor Society adviser and oversaw Prom and Graduation activities. The National Society of High School Scholars recognized Ms. Gadol as an Educator of Distinction after one of her students who was a member nominated her. She was selected for Who’s Who among American Teachers for three years, nominated by four different students. Her school nominated Ms. Gadol for Disney’s American Teacher Award for creativity in teaching and for NC Charter School Teacher of the Year. The recognition of which Ms. Gadol is most proud is the TJCA’s Punniest Teacher Award, presented in 2006 by the senior class. To date, she is the only recipient of this award.
Ms. Gadol’s peer teachers elected her as the upper school teacher representative to TJCA’s Board of Directors. Ms. Gadol was invited by the TEAMCFA Representative to became a TeamCFA Fellow in 2012. She worked in administration at two TEAMCFA schools, Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy and Lake Lure Classical Academy, before opening Excelsior Classical Academy.
Ms. Gadol’s retires in June, 2025, at the end of Excelsior’s tenth year.
