The academic foundation of Twin Peaks Charter Academy is the Core Knowledge sequence, a successful and widely recognized educational reform based on the premise that a grade-by-grade core of common learning is necessary to ensure a sound and fair elementary education. This core is the foundation upon which successive work in later grades is based.
Core Knowledge continuum is a proven program stressing sequential knowledge at each grade level building a broad base of knowledge in a wide range of academic and artistic disciplines. Our expectation is that, given the opportunity, children can happily and successfully perform at much higher levels than is routinely expected in most other school environments.
One size does not fit all.
We understand that each child has individual needs so we've supplemented the Core Knowledge curriculum with an array of opportunities for individualized instruction. For those with special needs there are programs such as Accelerated Reader while our literacy strategies individually tackle reading problems with work on phonemic awareness. Also, there is a dedicated Gifted & Talented program for exceptionally bright students who meet testing criteria and routinely perform above grade level in a number of academic subject areas. Our eighth grade students have the opportunity travel to Washington D.C. for a week-long course offered by World Strides. This is a TPCA tradition supported by student fund-raising and parent and teacher support. With a start in 2009/10, the middle school has embarked on a sports program that rivals other area middle schools in cross country, basketball, wrestling and volleyball. The school continues will to develop programs such as upcoming courses for 2010 summer vacation.
Want to know more about Core Knowledge?
Begun by Professor E. D. Hirsch, Jr., author of Cultural Literacy and The Schools We Need, Core Knowledge is based on a large body of research in cognitive psychology, as well as a careful examination of several of the world's fairest and most effective school systems. Professor Hirsch has argued that, for the sake of academic excellence, greater fairness, and higher literacy, early schooling should provide a solid, specific, shared core curriculum in order to help children establish strong foundations of knowledge. After wide consultation, the content of this core curriculum has been outlined in two books — the Core Knowledge Preschool Sequence and the Core Knowledge Sequence, K–8 — that state explicitly what students should learn at each grade level. Currently, hundreds of schools and thousands of dedicated educators are participating in this school reform movement throughout the United States.
