The mission of our schools is to equip every student with the knowledge, confidence, and character to succeed in college and beyond.
Our students will, from the earliest grades, steadily build a strong foundation of learning habits, critical thinking skills, and knowledge; excel academically in the middle and high schools; and graduate as confident young adults, prepared to succeed as college students, citizens, and leaders in their chosen fields.
Dedicated facilities
Ascend schools are not co-located with Department of Education schools. All our schools are housed in inviting, custom-built or newly renovated buildings where every design detail is chosen to communicate our high aspirations for teaching and learning at Ascend. In these spaces, school leadership teams can focus entirely on instruction and forging the school’s distinctive culture rather than negotiating a space shared with another school. Our school buildings engender a sense of pride and purpose in their communities.
Lower schools
Beginning in kindergarten with a curriculum fully aligned to the standards of the Common Core, Ascend lower schools establish a foundation of strong basic skills in early literacy, a conceptual understanding of math, critical thinking, intellectual drive, and enthusiasm for learning.
Middle schools
By the time Ascend students enter middle school, they have acquired the requisite academic skills, critical capacities, mental stamina, and engagement with schooling to participate in an uncommonly ambitious course of study.
High schools
In addition to pursuing a rigorous academic course of study, a central focus of the high school is the development of agency—students' belief that they are in control of their own lives and can act of their own free choices. This capacity will prove essential for college life, where freedom and responsibility will be exercised in a nearly complete absence of supervision.
