About Us

City Academy is a public charter school open since 2000 and currently serving about 160 7th - 12th grade students in downtown Salt Lake City. We began with 60 students in 7th and 8th grades and then have added a grade level and students each year. Our school was founded by educators from the University of Utah's College of Education using research-based best practices for effective and equitable secondary education. We are an accredited high school chartered by the Utah State Office of Education with highly qualified teachers in every classroom. Additional specific information is provided in our School Profile.

City Academy is unique in providing a learning environment focused on students developing and demonstrating knowledge and competencies in academic areas as well as in personal citizenship. We know our graduates are prepared for college because they have accomplished challenging graduation requirements of 28 credits that include more years of math, science, and PE classes, foreign language, and service learning and they have presented a comprehensive personal portfolio. Our advisory program and small classes of not more than 25 students create a very personalized and challenging learning community. [back to top]

Our Mission

A personalized educational environment.

At City Academy, our mission is to create and sustain a model secondary public school where all students are engaged in academically rigorous, civically oriented curriculum; critical and creative thinking; and authentic learning in a personalized educational environment.

We Believe…
 - Students can learn, want to learn, and learn by different means.
 - Students are the stewards of their own education.
 - Literacy and numeracy skills are essential building blocks of all learning; and should be mastered    by all students.
 - High school graduates should demonstrate competency in and appreciation for English language    arts, mathematics, laboratory science, the social sciences, healthy lifestyles, a second language,    pragmatics, fine arts and citizenship.
 - A relevant education challenges students to think and solve problems creatively.
 - Interconnected, authentic learning in the arts, sciences, and citizenship students to become    lifelong learners, and engaged and active citizens.
 - Education is most effective when it is cooperatively supported by educators, parents and    community. [back to top]

Charter Schools

City Academy, like all charter schools, is an independent public school. Charter schools operate under a "charter" agreement with a District or the State Board of Education. City Academy is a state chartered school. We use our autonomy to provide innovative rigorous programs of study, unique competency-based assessment, small class sizes, and the focus on personalization that a small school can provide.

Accreditation

City Academy was one of the first charter schools in Utah and is now well established.  We are fully accredited by the Northwest Association of Accredited Schools (NAAS), and have been since 2003 (the first year we were eligible for accreditation).  This is nice validation for all the excellent work being done at our school.   

The NAAS has eight core standards for the accreditation of all high schools.

Teaching and Learning Standards
    1. mission, beliefs, and desired results for student learning
    2. curriculum
    3. instruction
    4. assessment
Support Standards
    5. leadership and organization
    6. school services
        - student support services
        - guidance services
        - health services
        - library information services
        - special education services
        - family and community services
    7. facilities and finances
School Improvement Standard
    8. culture of continual improvement

Every 3 - 6 years a school wishing to be accredited by the Northwest Association of Accredited Schools (NAAS) must undertake an extensive self-evaluation process. Schools are then approved for accreditation based on that evaluation and a related self improvement plan, as well as evaluation through a site visit from a state evaluation team.

City Academy has been accredited since 2003, the first year possible for our new school. This is nice validation for all the excellent work being done at our school. [back to top]

City Academy Vocabulary

Authentic Assessment
Students demonstrate what they have learned by performing a task or producing an outcome that involves `real-world' skills or challenges. The task or outcomes will usually be open-ended, allowing students to demonstrate how much they have learned. Students may be able to choose the nature of the task or the form of the product.

Collaborative Learning
Students learn through the process of cooperating in a learning activity. What's the difference between this and merely "group" work?! Collaborative learning is more than sharing table conversation or sharing the load of a large assignment. In collaborative learning, each member of a cooperative learning group learns with and from each other member so that the result is "bigger" learning for each student than could have been accomplished by each student alone.

Civic Habits
Habits of heart, mind, voice, and work which are qualities of responsible and active citizens. See Core Civic Habits resource.

Competency-Based Assessment
Students are assessed through their demonstrated competency, i.e. what they are able to show they know and are able to do. This usually involves authentic situations of assessment, i.e. if you want to know if students can read a map, they should read a map. At City Academy we report four levels of demonstrated competency: Initial, or basic competency; Reaching, or competency that is still developing between initial and solid; Solid competency as recognized by externally normed standards; and Expanded or exceptional competency.

Differentiation
Adjusting teaching and learning so that each student is able to develop knowledge, skills and understanding at a level and rate appropriate for that individual.

Essential Question
An authentic problem or significant question that guides or drives a unit of learning by engaging students and requiring core subject knowledge, key skills, and powerful habits of mind to solve or answer

Free and Responsible Speech
The right to say what you must, not just what you want, in an appropriate manner and at an appropriate moment. Expressing yourself in ways that demonstrate honesty and personal integrity.

Laboratory of Democracy
Students are learning and practicing the knowledge and skills required for responsible and active citizenship. As in science, a laboratory is a place for trial and error, and a safe environment where learning from mistakes can take place.

Personalized Education
Takes place in small communities of teachers and students, where everyone feels a sense of belonging, and there is more personal environment. It is provided through curriculum relevant and accessible to each student, and is established when students are able to understand and address their own learning needs and goals.

Project-Based Learning (PBL) aka `Issue-based' or 'Problem-based' or `Investigative' learning
Project-based learning is focused on "students doing" rather than on "teachers showing & telling." PBL begins with students as active participants exploring different aspects of an issue (rather than beginning with a review or a lecture providing "needed background knowledge"). Most importantly, PBL is launched with essential questions that get at the heart of a unit of study, have no one right answer, and deal with issues to which students can connect. Learning over a long series of lessons is connected by a theme framed in the essential questions which students investigate.

A project therefore gives students opportunities to actively participate in a process of inquiry, critical thinking, problem solving, thoughtful synthesis and analysis of findings, and a presentation of the results. It does NOT mean merely "find out lots about something"! Project outcomes, products, and presentations should be analytical and reflective (rather than narrative or descriptive).

Restorative Justice
The offender makes restitution to the victim (individual or community) who has suffered loss as a result of the offense.

Service Learning
Learning through the act of service is about so much more than doing good deeds! Service learning combines service objectives with learning objectives with the intent that the activity change and enhance both the recipient and the provider of the service. This is accomplished by combining service tasks with structured opportunities that link the task to self-reflection, self-discovery, and the acquisition and comprehension of values, skills, and knowledge content. [back to top]

City Academy Board of Trustees

Contact Us
City Academy welcomes your comments, questions, and input about our programs. We are located at:

555 East 200 South
Salt Lake City Utah, 84102

Parking is available on 200 South in front of the school for 2 hours at a time, and north behind the school in our parking lot with an entrance off of 600 East.

Ph: 801-596-8489
Fax: 521-4181
E-mail Us
info@cityacademyslc.org

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