Academics
Middle School (grades 6-8)
GPS believes in providing each girl with a superior and rigorous academic program accompanied by opportunities for personal growth in athletics, the fine arts, community service, and extracurricular activities. Starting from the 6th grade, students are immediately expected to work their hardest and excel in whichever subject they put their minds to. In addition, the girls take a computer class twice a week to develop technological, communication, and problem-solving skills. In the 7th grade, they are required to pick up a language: French, Spanish, Latin, or Mandarin Chinese, and in the 8th grade, each student is required to purchase a specific personal laptop for school use. In the past, IBM tablets were the laptops of choice; however, due to several laptop issues over the course of several years, the school switched to requiring the students purchase MacBook Airs for convenience in 2011.
Upper School (grades 9-12)
Because GPS stands among the country's leading schools in educational and technological innovation, its graduates are young women who create a more honorable, compassionate, and sustainable community. The Upper School, along with the Middle School, prepares its students by engaging their minds, stimulating their spirits, and challenging them to become effective leaders in the global community. After every test and quiz, students are expected to write, "On my honor I have neither given nor received help on this test, nor will I discuss it.", followed by their signature.
The Upper School currently offers 19 Advanced Placement courses, ranging from AP Latin Horace to AP Comparative Government & Politics. Students consistently score higher than the national and state average for males and females in every subject offered; in 2010-11, 80% of the sophomores through seniors taking the exams scored three or higher on the five point scale, and in the senior class of 2011, 70% were enrolled in at least one AP course. Class sizes are relatively small, with the student-teacher ratio being 12:1. Although each grade consists of 80-110 girls, the school boasts excellence in every division, with numerous National Merit Scholars, perfect SAT scores, and millions offered in scholarship money per year. Graduates of GPS attend diverse colleges every year, including Dartmouth College, Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Columbia University, New York University (NYU), United States Military Academy (USMA), Yale University, Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), Brandeis University, Johns Hopkins University, and Vanderbilt University, to name a few.
Read more about this topic: Girls Preparatory School
Famous quotes containing the word academics:
“Our first line of defense in raising children with values is modeling good behavior ourselves. This is critical. How will our kids learn tolerance for others if our hearts are filled with hate? Learn compassion if we are indifferent? Perceive academics as important if soccer practice is a higher priority than homework?”
—Fred G. Gosman (20th century)
“Almost all scholarly research carries practical and political implications. Better that we should spell these out ourselves than leave that task to people with a vested interest in stressing only some of the implications and falsifying others. The idea that academics should remain “above the fray” only gives ideologues license to misuse our work.”
—Stephanie Coontz (b. 1944)