Educational Model

• Success Oriented Learning

The school’s educational structure is based upon student performance or learning. The Performance-Based/Mastery Learning approach recognizes human characteristics and enables the student to be placed in learning environments according to achievement levels. This approach facilitates matching the students’ skills and needs with the academic program. The implications are profound for student attitudes and learning. The school is dedicated to this concept.

• Performance-Based

The curricular model used is a “Performance-Based” approach to education. The content of each academic discipline is divided into specific student expectancies or “Essential Units”. An “Essential Unit” contains specific concepts or skills. Teachers give instruction and guidance for the essential unit using appropriate materials and activities, and when the essential unit is completed, test for student mastery. Records are maintained documenting individual student progress and credentialing. Objectives, instruction, teaching materials, and evaluations are aligned. Curriculum is reviewed periodically for relevance and validity. All curricula are available for parents to review.

• Mastery Learning

In this research-validated model each Essential Unit is taught with a view to excellence. When students demonstrate mastery of the essential unit, they move on to the next essential unit. If the student does not achieve mastery, the teacher reteaches and the student revises as necessary. Additional conferencing and extended practice may be given to demonstrate proficiency at the appropriate level before testing again. When the students demonstrate mastery they are rewarded with an “A” or “B”. Thus a student never “fails” in the traditional sense. Instead he/she proceeds logically through the curriculum at a pace determined by his/her mastery of the material.

• Success Orientations

“Success for All “ is the motto of QSI Schools. Personal habits and the ability to interact successfully with others are deemed as valuable as the knowledge and competencies students learn. Success orientations are actively encouraged in virtually all areas of the school curriculum with the view of making them a vital part of ones life pattern. Evaluations of the success orientations are limited to situations within the jurisdiction of the school and are made by a consensus of the professional staff members. They are grouped under the following headings:

• Responsibility
• Trustworthiness
• Group Interaction
• Aesthetic Appreciation
• Kindness and Politeness
• Independent Endeavor
• Concern for Others