Prestige Academy Charter School

MISSION Prestige Academy prepares young men in grades 5-8 for admission to and success in demanding college preparatory high schools. In a highly structured, achievement-oriented school culture, Prestige Academy students develop a strong academic foundation in the core subjects and the REAL values necessary for success: Respect and Responsibility, Excellence in Behavior, Academic Mastery, and Leadership.

VISION Prestige Academy will prepare students for the high schools of their choice through a respectful and highly disciplined school culture, a rigorous college preparatory curriculum that relentlessly remediates weaknesses and gets students working on or above level, and high behavioral and academic standards modeled after the highest performing charter schools serving similar children. We envision a safe, well-disciplined, achievement-oriented environment where boys in grades 5-8 learn, master, and apply foundational skills and content knowledge in the core subjects.

Prestige Academy will achieve these goals by: • Providing double periods of literacy and math instruction daily: We ensure the academic foundation students need before they move forward. • Extending the length of school days and the academic year: We require students to attend school for 195 days, from 7:30am to 5:00pm, providing additional tutoring and enrichment after school, select Saturdays, and during the summer months. • Enforcing strict behavioral rules: We teach, model, and demand all students develop and demonstrate REAL values: Respect and Responsibility, Excellence in Behavior, Academic Mastery, and Leadership. Our students wear uniforms, participate in community service activities, and benefit from a strong, no-excuses character education through which they are taught how to be Prestige Men. • Involving parents as partners: We encourage parents to become involved in their child’s education through on going mentoring, family newsletters, parent workshops and school covenants.

Prestige Academy submitted a charter application to the Red Clay School District in December 2006 and received charter approval in May of 2007. We will open our doors in August 2008. Prestige Academy will enroll 108 young men in grade 5 the first year, and will expand one grade per year until we enroll students in grades 5-8.