Strengths-based Academics
Academics tailored to develop the skills that innovative kids will need to lead in college and beyond
Our Vision-to-Voice Curriculum develops the skills that innovative thinkers will need to support their gifts.
Our academic work is at the heart of our Vision to Voice curriculum: a comprehensive approach to developing the skills that innovative students will need in college and as the adults that they will become. It is the framework that allows us to not just deliver Connecticut state curriculum standards (though we do that too) but to develop the high analytical reasoning and creative thinking skills that all the students in our cohort share in common, while strengthening the executive function and peer collaboration skills that are essential to their success but where many students struggle. Our community-wide project-based learning framework also helps them learn to apply their skills even to problems that many not lie within their own interest areas: an essential skill for college and “real world” success.
These efforts are individualized for all learners through their unique Cajal Compass: a data-based analysis that helps them understand their own profiles. For students whose complex learning, social-emotional or neurophysio profiles interfere with their abilities to access their gifts, we take this a step further, through our Student Growth Catalysts: a comprehensive new approach to special needs that goes beyond accommodations to actually change the fundamentals of students’ learning profiles. Over time, this closes the gap between complex gifted and/or twice exceptional learners and their mainstream peers, expanding the number of settings and pursuits in which they can thrive.
Use the links below to learn more about the academic curriculum, pedagogies and approach at the heart of this ground-breaking program:
Runway for your Gifts
Our students master state curriculum standards while working together to solve real world problems through deep-dive, project-based learning
We develop the super-sized skills that innovative thinkers will need to lead, through “no ceiling,” project-based learning delivered in small, ability-based classes. Academic instruction is tailored to go through our students’ strengths in analytical reasoning rather than drill or rote memorization, with additional differentiation for special needs (see below). Rather than pressure kids to “sit still and listen” we integrate movement into the classroom, leveraging the benefits of “embodied cognition.” The result is powerful, neuroscience-driven progress. Learn more here about our “general education” curriculum, and scroll down to learn how we foster growth for students iwth learning disabilities and other special educational needs.
We (re)ignite students’ love of learning through deep dive project-based learning
Our students collaborate to solve real world problems, helping them discover potential career paths and new perspectives through community-wide projects fostering a shared sense of purpose. Each project requires our students to master and then apply standards-based instruction aligned with state curriculum. A standardized process develops executive function skills they can use to realize their innovative ideas in college and beyond.
We leverage academic work to teach essential thought leadership skills
At the core of our program is a unique curriculum, integrated into all we do, developing the super-sized skills that kids who inherently see the world differently require to thrive. Our project-based learning framework, community-centered leadership skills and self-care coaching prepares kids for a future defined by their strengths, so they’re ready to catapult forward as our Student Growth Catalysts reduce the challenges standing in their way.
Find out more about the skills in the “Innovators Toolbox” and our unique Vision to Voice Curriculum.
We meet students at their ability level, regardless of their age
All academic instruction is delivered in ability-based classes. Each student has a custom program, so they receive the curriculum that’s right for them even where they are either above or below grade level in one or more subjects. Asynchronous learning is common in our cohort, so our mixed age cohort helps us to align our complex learners with appropriately-matched peers.
College-Ready Toolkit
We prepare college-bound teens with the academic and life skills they’ll need to succeed
Students staying at Cajal Academy through graduation make the shift in their upper high school years to building resilience for the newly-enhanced skills targeted through their Student Growth Catalysts to mastering and taking ownership of the advanced skills in our Vision to Voice Curriculum through their Senior Capstone Project. Find out more about how we do this.
Senior Capstone Project
Students design and execute their own project-based learning study in their senior year, exploring an area of interest while gaining skills they’ll need to manage their own learning process in college and beyond.
Transformative Programs for Kids with Special Needs
We’ve made a break-through that could revolutionize the whole field of education: a research-backed methodology for reducing or even removing special education needs, by “rewiring” the way the child performs the challenged skills. See how this is infused into our academic programming, or learn more about our highly-individualized Student Growth Catalysts and how this powerful approach can help to move your child forward.
We transform student profiles by reducing or even removing learning disabilities that other schools can only accommodate
We’ve made a break-through for the field of special education, with a research-backed approach that’s proving effective at reducing or even removing learning disabilities. This first-of-its-kind, neurodevelopmental approach is transformational for students, while holding the potential to dramatically reduce special education costs over time.
We teach differently because of our students’ strengths — not just their challenges
We design all instruction to go through the critical thinking and analytical reasoning skills where our students excel, and then use the data in their profiles to reduce demand for their Not Yet Skills while we work to enhance them through our Student Growth Catalysts. Our project-based learning framework delivers Connecticut state standards through real world problems students must analyze, integrate differing perspectives and materials and then solve. This focus on critical thinking as the gateway to learning turns traditional scaffolding techniques on their head: a course correction that’s essential for our intellectually gifted cohort of kids.
We put academic learning into a bigger picture of personal growth
Academic strengths and challenges can play an outsized role in the personal identities and emotional journeys of intellectually-gifted (and especially twice exceptional) kids. Our Catalyst Method is a comprehensive approach that starts with the data in each child’s neuropsychological and neurophysiological profile and then “connects the dots” between their strengths and weaknesses, their academic journeys, their social functioning and their emotional health. Then we use a neuroscience-based approach to enhance the skills that are holding them back and foster the mindset required for growth.
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