About

Flexibility. Discernment. Compassion. Expertise.

These are just some of the qualities that we embrace at Summit Academy, and families that need our school need all of these things from us. Too often, children are asked to adapt to school policies, procedures, and programs rather than the school making adjustments to meet the unique needs of the learners. As a result, many families and students find themselves frustrated by academic programming that does not work for them. Summit Academy of Greater Louisville is an independent, non-profit school that helps families and students stop feeling frustrated. Our students are pre-kindergarten through high school, and they love going to school here. Summit provides a place where each student’s learning challenges are understood and met using a whole child approach; a place where we celebrate and develop a child’s strengths, as well as addressing their area of difficulty. It’s a safe place where a each young learner is treated and educated as an individual – in an atmosphere of caring and respect that allows our students to succeed.

Mission

Summit Academy provides a transformative educational experience for students who learn differently by cultivating each student’s academic, social, and emotional success in a vibrant and compassionate environment.

Philosophy

We believe:
– Every student should feel valued and necessary.
– Every student is unique and has unique strengths and weaknesses.
– Students deserve to be taught in a way that allows them to be successful.
– Students need individual attention from educators in order to properly assess and address their needs.
– Students must have the earliest possible intervention to mitigate the effects of learning differences on their academic success and emotional well-being.
– Students need an emotionally safe environment in order to learn.
– Students need a school that addresses their social, emotional, physical and academic needs.
– Students need a joint cooperative commitment between family and school in order to be successful.
– Students benefit from the use of technology as an instructional tool.

Because this is our philosophy:
– Students are assessed on an on-going basis in order to guide instruction and monitor progress.
– Students are taught with the most adaptive, best-practice teaching strategies in order to meet the students’ changing needs.
– Students are taught organizational and compensatory skills as a regular part of the daily curriculum.
– Students will have a very low student/teacher ratio in every class.
– Children ages three, four, and five have a specialized Pre-K and Kindergarten program to provide early intervention for learning differences.
– Students are educated in an atmosphere of mutual respect, in a structured, secure environment.
– Students enjoy a complete curriculum that includes art, music, computer instruction, library science, recess, and physical education.
– Students have extra-curricular activities that correspond to their current interests and abilities.
– Students’ parents and teachers communicate with each other on a regular basis.
– Students are introduced to, and use, technology as part of the instructional process.

Goals

It is the goal of Summit Academy to:
– Help every student view school as a positive, challenging and successful experience.
– Narrow the gap between a child’s academic achievement and academic potential as measured by standardized testing.
– Create a supportive community that includes families, staff and teachers working together.
– Establish a scholarship endowment, so that every family that needs financial aid will receive it.
– Continue to be a dynamic entity; continually improving, changing and growing in response to the needs of our students and to the latest knowledge gained through educational research.

History

Summit has been educating children with learning differences since it was incorporated as an independent, non-profit school in February 1992. Margaret Thornton and Rosemary Middleton, co-founders of Summit Academy, believe that a conventional school setting may not meet the needs of every child. Too often children are asked to adapt to school policies, procedures and programs, rather than adapting the school to meet the unique needs of the learners. With this in mind, they opened Summit Academy in August of 1992 with 21 students and a staff of five.

Equal Opportunity

Summit Academy does not discriminate on the basis of gender, race, color, religion,
nationality or ethnic origin in administration of its policies and programs.

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