Signature Programs

List of 7 items.

• Advanced Placement (AP) Program

  The Advancement Placement (AP®) program is a rigorous academic curriculum built on the commitment, passion and hard work of students and educators from both secondary schools and higher education. With more than 30 courses in a wide variety of subject areas, AP provides motivated and academically prepared high school students the opportunity to study and learn at the college level while possibly gaining college course credit.
  
  Through AP courses, talented and dedicated AP teachers help students develop and apply the skills, abilities and content knowledge they will need to succeed in college. Each AP course is modeled upon a comparable college course, and college and university faculty play a vital role in ensuring that AP courses align with college-level standards. For example, through the AP Course Audit, AP teachers submit their syllabi for review and approval by college faculty. Only courses using syllabi that meet or exceed the college-level curricular and resource requirements for each AP course are authorized to carry the "AP" label.
  
  

  AP courses culminate in a suite of college-level assessments developed and scored by college and university faculty members as well as experienced AP teachers. AP Exams are an essential part of the AP experience, enabling students to demonstrate their mastery of college-level course work. Strong performance on AP Exams is rewarded by colleges and universities worldwide. More than 90 percent of four-year colleges and universities in the United States grant students credit, placement or both on the basis of successful AP Exam scores. But performing well on an AP Exam means more than just the successful completion of a course; it is the gateway to success in college. Research consistently shows that students who score a 3 or higher typically experience greater academic success in college and improved graduation rates than their non-AP student peers.
  

   

  Click here to visit the College Board Advanced Placement website.
  
  

  Currently, St. Paul's offers the following AP courses:
  
  

  AP 2D Art and Design
  AP 2D Art and Design: Photography

  AP Biology
  AP Calculus AB

  AP Calculus BC

  AP Chemistry
  AP Computer Science Principles
  AP Drawing
  AP English Language and Composition
  AP English Literature and Composition
  AP Environmental Science
  AP European History
  AP French Language and Culture
  AP Microeconomics
  AP Physics 1
  AP Spanish Language and Culture
  AP Statistics
  AP United States Government and Politics
  AP United States History

• Math in Focus

  Strong foundational math skills are crucial to a student’s long-term math success.  Recognizing that fact, St. Paul’s recently deployed the most research-proven math approach in the world:  Singapore Math.  Math in Focus, the American version of Singapore Math, leverages global best practices and research to create a unique approach based on powerful visual models, engaging hands-on activities, and a consistent K–8 pedagogical approach. 
  
  

  Mathematicians are problem solvers first. When children can't find the meaning in numbers and symbols, problem solving is a struggle. Math in Focus helps students learn the “language” of math. Through hands-on learning, visualization, and pictorial representations, their understanding, confidence, and love of math grows. Math in Focus empowers students to develop the critical-thinking skills, positive attitudes, and confidence needed to set the stage for achievement.
  
  

  Our Math in Focus deployment is only one element of a holistic math curriculum renovation.  St. Paul’s also has a summer math practice requirement, readiness groups its students to allow more personalized movement through our curriculum, and has partnerships with area universities to allow our highest flyers the opportunity to take post-calculus math courses.  We are confident that the St. Paul’s math curriculum is the strongest and most comprehensive available.

• Foundations and Frameworks

  Foundations and Frameworks is a uniquely designed, research-based and researched-supported instructional reading program used in Grades Pre-K through 5. This unique reading program utilizes the latest findings in neuroscience to tailor instruction to how humans are wired to learn. Foundations and Frameworks incorporates brain-friendly methods of instruction to maximize learning.
  
  

  The five quintessential elements of reading – phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and reading comprehension – are explicitly taught and modeled. High-quality literature is used as a natural conduit for skill instruction which provides adequate material for in-depth comprehension. Small groups are a part of daily instruction, which gives teachers the flexibility to group students for re-teaching, reviewing, or for providing additional, individualized guided practice.
  
  

  This program dispenses with the traditional workbook; instead, it uses a grade-appropriate compilation of visual tools to help students organize and connect textual information. PreK-5^th grade teachers train extensively to effectively teach this innovative and engaging program of reading instruction.
  
  

  St. Paul's is the only independent school in Mobile that has been trained to implement this showcase instructional reading program. The result? Our students read far above their grade level peers. 

• Writer's Stylus Writing Program

  St. Paul’s is a national leader in writing instruction; our students write at every grade level, in all academic classes, and across all genres.  For the past decade, we have utilized the Writer’s Stylus program, developed by the same research team which created Foundations and Frameworks and which uses the same methodology of brain-based instruction. The St. Paul’s writing faculty include trainers in this methodology, and have led the nation in the comprehensive implementation of the Writer’s Stylus program.

  
  Research indicates that the process of writing engages more areas of the brain and involves them more intensely than any other known academic activity. Writer’s Stylus offers a unified, comprehensive, and cohesive approach that spirals upward throughout a child’s developmental cycles. It is centered around groundbreaking research on how children’s brains acquire, process, and store information, and we are thrilled to offer it as a central element of our curriculum.

• Saxon Phonics

  The St. Paul’s Lower School foundational English skills program is based upon the comprehensive and research-based Saxon Phonics and Spelling curricular approach.  It provides engaging, explicit instruction in the important foundational skills of phonemic awareness, phonics, spelling, alphabetizing, handwriting, and fluency with high-frequency words.

• The Writing Center

  Peer tutoring is beneficial to both parties, and universities have long used writing centers to help students develop into strong writers. Replicating this model, student volunteers at the St. Paul’s Writing Center provide support and assistance to Middle and Upper School students in preparing research papers, essays, speeches, projects, and creative work. SPS’s peer tutors, like their college counterparts, are ready to help students in a variety of areas:

  • Brainstorming
  • Topic Selection and definition
  • Organizing research
  • Refining thesis statements
  • Developing supporting evidence
  • Creating analysis to accompany evidence
  • Employing appropriate tone and style
  • Checking mechanics
  • Citing sources with MLA format
  • Fulfilling specialized writing assignments for math, science, history, and English

• Typing Pal for Grades 3-5

  Technological evolution and the ever-growing presence of keyboards in our work and daily life demand keyboarding proficiency. Skill in this area makes one more efficient and productive and saves countless hours of typing tedium while in college, the workforce, or at home.  Your child will have the opportunity to develop this skill through Typing Pal School, the best tool for learning how to type.  Students can practice directly from home via the Internet.