About
In the spirit of the Renaissance
Academy of the Renaissance is a future California private K–12 school for economically-disadvantaged students from underserved communities — a school where apprenticeships, the arts, the sciences, and humanism come together the way Renaissance learning once did.
Our mission
We believe every student has unique strengths and talents. Our mission is to help students discover and master their own strengths — and to show them how to use those strengths in a field of their interest, so they feel empowered to lead in their communities and beyond.
Students will eventually become part of a unique academic enterprise, working with industry experts who help them apply what they've learned. Success isn't only what you know — it's the impact of how you use it.
Six pillars
Community
Students, teachers, families and industry experts learning side by side. Projects bind the class into a single community of practice.
Learning
Mastery-based, hands-on, grounded in real applications. Play, repetition, and exploration are the brain's natural ways in.
Mastery of Strengths
Every student discovers and builds on what makes them unique — rather than treating every subject as equally important.
Intergenerational Learning & Teaching
Older students teach younger ones. Knowledge passes the way it has for millennia — without each generation having to reinvent the wheel.
Accountability
Students are responsible for their own learning. Accountability turns 'someone's fault' into a plan for next week.
Character Development
Integrity, perseverance, humility — taught as deliberately as math.
Three values
- Value Integrity
- Value Perseverance
- Value Empowerment
Three themes
- Theme Understanding the Past
- Theme Creating the Present
- Theme Imagining the Future
Each pillar, value, and theme is unpacked in detail in the 100 Reasons blog. Start at Reason #1.A and follow the thread.
Formally
Academy of the Renaissance is a California nonprofit public benefit corporation, incorporated April 20, 2018. We received our 501(c)(3) determination on April 15, 2019. Gifts to AotR may be tax-deductible — see our 501(c)(3) page for details.