Academics are where college futures start. Beginning in their junior year, all students take part in the rigorous academic curriculum of Advanced Placement (AP) courses in 5 subjects. Summit Students are expected to gain mastery of the material and to pass all grade-level assessments. The assessments used by Summit compare each student's individual achievement to state, national and collegiate standards, not to the performance of other students. Summit measures success by the success of our students:
- 100% of Summit graduates exceed UC entrance requirements
- 100% of Summit juniors take the SAT exam
- 100% of Summit seniors apply to four year colleges and universities
Summit's Teaching Approach
Summit’s curriculum is delivered by utilizing innovative blends of best-in-class teaching methods and models, such as:
- Research-based Instructional Methods and Approaches: delivered in an interdisciplinary curriculum, all of Summit’s core courses explore content through the lens of a common theme in ways that make learning relevant and accessible to the students.
- Backwards Planning: methodically focuses all courses to meet and exceed California State and AP standards.
- Differentiated Instruction: challenges each student to reach his or her potential, regardless of differences in learning style, prior knowledge, or skill level.
- Project-based learning: calls for students learning content and skills by developing solutions to real world problems.
Assessments
Letter grades are assigned for core course work and are consistent with state measures. Annually, students take the STAR Exams, the High School Exit Exam, Advanced Placement Tests, and a variety of college entrance exams, including the SAT.
Mastery of content and skills is a fluid process and all students learn at different rates. If a student doesn’t pass an assessment on the first attempt, then, consistent with our “Revision & Redemption” philosophy, she or he is provided with additional support and the time to take the assessments again and, if needed, again. Every student counts and we never give up on working with our students until they succeed in meeting their goals.
