Tempe Preparatory Academy
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"Truth, beauty, goodness"
| Tempe Preparatory Academy | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Location | |
 | |
| , United States | |
| Coordinates | 33°23′33″N 111°55′07″W / 33.392611°N 111.918514°W |
| Information | |
| Type | Public (charter) secondary |
| Motto | Verum, pulchrum, bonum "Truth, beauty, goodness" |
| Established | 1996 |
| Grades | 6–12 |
| Enrollment | High School: About 240 students. Junior High School: About 440 students (Feb 26) |
| Colors | Royal blue and gold [1] |
| Mascot | Knights[1] |
| Accreditation | North Central Association, American Academy for Liberal Education |
| Website | http://www.tempeprep.org/ |
Tempe Preparatory Academy is a public charter school in Tempe, a suburb of Phoenix, Arizona in the United States. Founded in 1996, Tempe Preparatory Academy (also known as Tempe Prep or TPA) offers a Great Books, core liberal arts curriculum centered on Western tradition, history, language, and literature. Its motto is Verum, Pulchrum, Bonum, meaning Truth, Beauty, Goodness. It is also the founding model for the Great Hearts Academies schools, with which it is otherwise unaffiliated. Tempe Prep is an independently-governed public charter school. Since 2015,[when?] the headmaster has been Wayne Porter. Past headmasters include Thomas Butler, Andrew Zwernaman, Daniel Scoggin, George Lowe, Ron Bergez, Julie Boles, Hugh Hallman (a past Mayor of Tempe), and David Baum.
Tempe Prep's Academic Recognitions include:
- National Blue Ribbon School, U.S. Department of Education (2008) Blue Ribbon Award.[2]
- Tempe Prep earned ratings of "excelling" from Arizona in 2008 and 2010.[3][4]
Academics
Tempe Preparatory Academy offers a set academic curriculum for each grade level. In addition, 9-12th grade students may choose to study Latin/Greek, French, Spanish, or German.
"A cornerstone of the liberal arts curriculum at Tempe Preparatory Academy is the Humane Letters Seminar. In the 9th through 12th grades, English, history, philosophy, and economics are combined in Humane Letters, a 2-hour long, daily seminar directed Socratically and revolving around primary source readings from Western Civilization’s best works. The goal of the HL sequence is to help students understand the Trivium (grammar, logic, and rhetoric) in the humanities through close textual readings, daily group discussions, and intensive, progressive writing assignments".[5]
Tempe Preparatory Academy added a 6th grade in 2008.
- 6th Grade: Language Arts, Math, Science, Drama, Ancient History
- 7th grade: Literature and Composition, American History I, Pre-Algebra, Life Science, Latin I, Art / Music Theory
- 8th grade: Literature and Composition, American History II, Algebra, Earth Science, Latin II, Art / Music Theory
- 9th grade: Humane Letters Seminar (emphasis: Ancient—High Middle Ages i.e., Semitic, Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Islamic, Germanic—Literature/History/Philosophy) (2 Hours), Geometry, Biology, Music / Poetry, Latin III or Modern Language I
- 10th grade: Humane Letters Seminar (emphasis: European History/Literature/Early Modern Political Thought) (2 Hours), Algebra II, Chemistry, Music Theory / Poetry, Advanced Latin or Modern Language II
- 11th grade: Humane Letters Seminar (emphasis: American History/Literature/Political Thought) (2 Hours), Pre-Calculus/Calculus, Physics I, Drama / Art, Beginning Greek or Modern Language III
- 12th grade: Humane Letters Seminar (emphasis: Roman Empire through the Middle Ages and into the modern era) (2 Hours), Calculus, Physics II/Chemistry II/Biology II, Drama / Art, Intermediate Greek or Modern Language IV[6]
Senior thesis and defense
"The culminating project for an Academy student is the Senior Thesis. At the beginning of the senior year, the student selects a field of inquiry from the curriculum — literature, philosophy, math, science, the arts — and then reads three or four substantial primary texts to examine in preparation for writing a 15 - 20 page analytical paper. At its core, the thesis is an exploration of one of the “Six Great Ideas” of humanity summarized as Truth, Beauty, Goodness, Justice, Liberty, and Equality. Students discuss texts in small group seminars composed of students, faculty, staff and board members, and work individually with a faculty member on the paper. After submitting the paper in the second semester, the senior then publicly defends the thesis before a three-member panel of faculty reviewers and also the community at large".[5]
