The Curtis School Difference

List of 4 items.

• Vision

  By pioneering programs that inspire engaged, healthy, and empathetic young learners to embrace the next phases of their education and lives with joy, confidence, and purpose, Curtis School sets the standard for elementary education in the Greater Los Angeles area and beyond.

• Purpose

  Our graduates are dexterous learners: they have learned how to learn and are intellectually curious, agile, and inspired to be problem seekers as well as problem solvers.
  
  Our graduates have healthy, sustainable habits of body and mind: they understand that the mind and body connect and take responsibility for living healthy lives.
  
  Our graduates know and understand the impact of their own character on others: they are aware of their feelings, regulate their actions, and empathize with others.
  
  Our graduates have purpose beyond themselves: they recognize how their contributions can bring about change and positivity, and understand their responsibility to the greater good.

• Values

  Educate in balance
  Equal emphasis of academic, physical, social-emotional, and character education is the guiding principle that defines a Curtis education.
  
  Improve, always
  The Curtis community has a growth mindset which is modeled by faculty and staff who dedicate themselves to the best practices in their craft.
  
  Roam freely
  Curtis children have space to learn and play on their campus and feel safe and secure.
  
  Embrace diversity
  Children learn best, and flourish most, when they encounter perspectives, people, backgrounds, and experiences other than their own. Diversity, equity, and inclusion speak to our highest ideals for a just society.
  
  Cherish childhood
  Childhood is brief and precious, a time of limitless potential and essential development. It is also a time to be savored for its own wonders, as it will not come again. A Curtis education honors these truths.
  
  Live with purpose
  In all we do, a Curtis education strives to provide students with the skills, tools, and sense of purpose they need to be good people.

• Accreditation

  The California Association of Independent Schools (CAIS) provides accreditation for independent elementary and secondary schools in the state of California. CAIS collaborates with the Accrediting Commission of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC), in accrediting secondary and K-12 schools. Elementary schools are accredited either by CAIS, or by CAIS and WASC.
  
  The Accreditation Process is Designed to:
  

  • Ensure the involvement and collaboration of the entire school community in the self-study
  • Clarify the school's purpose and its goals for students
  • Assess all aspects of the school's operations and student programs and their impact on students' personal and academic growth
  • Develop an action plan to address identified growth needs of the school
  • Develop and implement an accountability system to monitor the accomplishment of the action plan

  
  Curtis School actively participates in the accreditation process by developing a self-study that is distributed to the accreditation team prior to its visit. This comprehensive document assesses the school's compliance with criteria developed by CAIS and WASC to facilitate student learning, school improvement, and accountability. The accreditation team reviews this self-study prior to its site visit. Following the site visit, the accreditation team recommends to the accreditation boards a term of accreditation, as well as commendations and recommendations for the school.
  
  During the 2013-14 school year, Curtis undertook the process of renewing its accreditation from both CAIS and WASC. Following a comprehensive self-evaluation and a four-day visit by an independent accreditation team, Curtis School was granted a new seven-year term of accreditation. Due to the pandemic, CAIS-WASC postponed Curtis School's accreditation renewal to the 2021-22 school year.