Academic Programs

St. Angela Merici School’s primary emphasis is the spiritual education and development of each student.  A strong, well-rounded curriculum, which is fundamentally based in the teaching of Catholic faith, serves as the foundation of the academic program.  The administration and faculty have designed an environment emphasizing spiritual development as well as academic excellence.

Our core academic subjects include:

• Religion (daily for K – 8)
• Language Arts (which includes reading, spelling/vocabulary, phonics (K – 3) English and handwriting)
• Mathematics
• Social Studies
• Science and Health

The demanding and diverse education received by graduates of St. Angela Merici School well prepares them to successfully meet future academic challenges and build upon their strong faith foundation.  In addition to providing our students with an outstanding Catholic educational experience, our students excel academically as seen by our excellent standardized testing results.

Click here to see the St. Angela Merici School 2009 Report Card

comparing our standardized test scores to other Catholic schools in the diocese.

Our students also receive regular instruction in the following special subjects as part of our academic program and curriculum:

• Physical Education (K – 8)
• General Music (K – 8)
• Visual Art (K – 8)
• Technology (K – 8)
• Library/Print Media Literacy (K – 8)

 Our World Language Enrichment Program includes:

• Mandarin Chinese (K - 3)
• Spanish (4 - 8)

Optional enriching co-curricular electives include:

• Instrumental Music (grades 4 – 8)
• Latin Enrichment (grades 5 – 8)

In today's digital age, students must possess technological literacy to be prepared for the 21st century.  St. Angela Merici School has a wide-range of state-of-the-art technological resources to enhance teaching and student learning. 

Our technology program includes:

Mac Laptop Cart can be used either in the Laptop Technology Lab o rin the classrooms.

Mac Technology Lab with over 30 desktop iMacs for use during technology class and Accelerated Reader.  In addition, teachers may sign-out the technology class for their students to do research or other learning activities.

ActivBoards (interactive white board) are in each classroom.

TInspire graphing calculators are used in our middle school pre-algebra and algebra coursework

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Broadcast Studio (New!) will allow our student production team to broadcast both audio and video for morning announcements.

Online interactive textbooks are available for our students use at home.

Web-based Accelerated Reader is available for parents and students to monitor and track their progress in our literacy program.

Various software programs are available for use on all computers which includes Microsoft Office, iMovie, iWeb, iTunes, iPhoto, Kidspiration and other learning software packages.

In addition, we provide parents and students with Edline for online grades and assignments.

Reading skills and the enjoyment of reading is critical for development of a lifelong learner.  To promote literacy skills and enjoyment, St. Angela students participate in several programs to engage the developing reader.

• Captains Club (Accelerated Reader) ~ This incentive program is designed to encourage independent and recreational reading for all students.  The Internet-based program tracks a student's reading progress over the course of the school year. Parents and students have access to the student's record using the Internet. 
• Reader's Theater ~ Students in grades K – 4 participate during the school day in our new Reader’s Theater Program.  Reader’s Theater, an oral performance of a script based on authentic literature, is a best-practice strategy to develop reading fluency.  The ability to read fluently – that is to read with accuracy, speed and proper expression – can assist in the development of a student’s reading comprehension.  In Reader’s Theater, meaning is conveyed through expression and intonation—students need to interpret the script instead of memorizing it, thus helping with comprehension as well as fluency.  Repeated readings, or rehearsals, helps students build fluency in a natural and authentic manner.  Reader’s Theater can assist an elementary student’s development of reading in a creative and genuine way. 
• Book Buddies ~ Our emerging first grade readers partner with our preschoolers during the second semester.  This partnership allows our first graders to build confidence in reading while providing positive peer modeling of reading to the preschoolers.
• Summer Reading ~ Our Summer Reading Program provides students the opportunity to practice reading skills over the summer.  Students are assigned a book list for their grade level to assist in the selection of age appropriate books.   

Click here to see the Summer Reading List for the current summer.

Each child is created in the image of God and has been blessed with many gifts and talents in his or her own unique way.  One of our roles as Catholic educators is to meet the unique learning needs of each child in order to achieve their academic potential.  With the uniqueness of each child in mind, St. Angela Merici Parish School provides services for our exceptional students.

• Gifted Program -- St. Angela’s Gifted Program provides our students with exceptional academic gifts with services to meet their needs. Gifted children learn differently because they have the ability to absorb abstract concepts, organize them more effectively, and apply them more appropriately. These differences will be the defining foundation for Project Challenge along with inclusion opportunities for the classroom.  Our gifted program is for students who have demonstrated superior cognitive ability (full scale IQ of 128 or higher on the most recent CogAt). 
• Intervention Assistance Team -- Our Intervention Assistance Team (IAT) works with the teachers in meeting the educational needs of students who classroom performance indicates a potential need for additional assistance or intervention.  The IAT Team recommends and monitors interventions within the context of the response-to-intervention model. 

• Special Education (mild-to-moderate) and other auxiliary services - Special Education (mild to moderate) and other Auxiliary Services serve students who qualify for special services such as Speech and Language, Specific Learning Disabilities (Mild to Moderate) intervention, psychological (guidance and testing), or Title I Reading.*

 *These services are staffed by Fairview Park City Schools and PSI and are funded by the State of Ohio Auxiliary Services Funding and Federal Funding.  The availability of services is determined by the the availability of state and federal funding and the staffing assignments made by Fairview Park City Schools and PSI.