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OUR

EDUCATIONAL

PHILOSOPHY
 
 

“We will keep focusing on one child at a time because that way our  mission is always defined by the faces and the stories of the children in our school community.”

 

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Education for Life
 

  

The mission of Midwest Academy of Indiana is to create successful and motivated learners whose passion drives them to attain their goals and allows them to enter the community as self-confident, productive, and caring adults.

Our students and their families are the key to our mission at Midwest Academy of Indiana. Our educational priorities are different from many other schools as they are based on the unique talents and needs of each individual student, not test scores. Each child’s story is different.

Every student wants and needs to be known as a unique individual with special talents and abilities to contribute and areas that need extra help. When their strengths go unrecognized and their needs are unmet, students become discouraged and disengaged from school. 

Yet, a number of our students’ stories have much in common. Many young people come to Midwest Academy of Indiana feeling defeated and believing they can’t succeed in school. In many cases they have simply given up.

At Midwest Academy of Indiana, we take our students where they are and help them move forward. We get to know our students well, so we will know when they need to be challenged and when they need extra support.

Our curriculum is continually evolving in response to our students’ needs. In many cases we must help students believe that they can succeed before they are ready to learn.

 
Therefore, one of our most important missions is to establish positive mentoring relations with our students to reconnect them with learning and overcome their anxiety. The importance of this was pointed out in a recent study funded by the Gates Foundation in which 76% of school dropouts said that having no adult in school to talk to was a major reason for leaving.

Our educational philosophy is based on the belief that authentic learning is not about memorizing reams of isolated facts, but in being able to think deeply and learning to make wise decisions. 

Research has shown that real learning occurs when students are actively immersed and engaged in meaningful content, when they have hands-on educational experiences, and when they have the opportunity to be involved in in-depth discussions.

This brings up the question of homework:  Because our students are involved in quality learning experiences in the classroom and receive individualized help from teachers when they need it, there may be less homework—particularly “busy work”—than in traditional educational settings. 

Certainly there is a need for homework as an extension of classroom learning, and students need to be responsible about doing their work, but we believe that the amount of homework a student is assigned is a poor gauge of how much learning is actually going on. Homework should be a meaningful and worthwhile part of overall learning and not a nightly exercise in frustration and stress.
 
 

Our focus at Midwest Academy of Indiana is to
produce successful, thoughtful, and compassionate
adults who can contribute meaningfully to their community.
As one of our teachers said, our educational philosophy
should be about “head, hands, and heart.”

 
Midwest Academy of Indiana | 801 Congressional Boulevard | Carmel, Indiana 46032 | (317) 843-9500
Page Updated 1/10/09