How will Advantage Academy help me prepare for college?

TEA has determined every campus will provide career clusters for students at all campuses. We provide IT courses and a complete cluster as follows:

Advantage Academy Rowlett:
Business Management and Administration

Advantage Academy Waxahachie:
Agriculture, Food and natural resources

Advantage Academy Grand Prairie:
Education Training

All campuses with information technology and all students will graduate with all 26 credits required by TEA. Each high school is in partnership with a local jr. college to provide dual credit for our students.

Advantage Academy Rowlett:   
Eastfield Jr. College in Mesquite, TX and Richland College in Richardson, TX

Advantage Academy Waxahachie:
Corsicana, TX Waxahachie Campus

Advantage Academy Grand Prairie:
Mt. View College in Dallas, TX

English & History are courses available for dual credit and can be taken on the student’s Jr. year. Colleges have grants form the state so tuition is free. Students can earn up to 24 college credits by the time they graduate.

We are also specializing in Information Technology on every EAISD site.  Students enrolled in our technology classes will be able to test for certification in Microsoft Office courseware once they have completed the coursework.  Very soon we will be billed as a Technology Institute.  We have a Technology Lab as well as a mobile lab consisting of 25 laptops so that our teachers can incorporate technology across the curriculum. Advantage Academy students will receive dual credit for each successful passing grade. For the 07-08 school year, our 8th graders will receive credit for a Technology course called Keyboarding.  In future years, they may be able to receive High School credit for other courses as well. Check with your child’s Site Director for more details.
For more information contact our Site Counselor. 

What about Sports?

In the fall, we have Girls’ Volleyball and Boys’ Football. Spring sports include Boys’ and Girls’ Basketball, Girls’ Softball, Boys’ Baseball, and Track for both. We are still developing a program at the Middle School level. Fees associated to each sport are to be determined. Advantage Academy schools follow the no pass no play rule.

We also offer Art at every level. We are planning on offering Choir at the High School level this year. Various campuses have different offerings.

What Curriculum is used?

TEKS CURRICULUM
Advantage Academy continually researches curriculum to ensure the best for our students.  The curriculum is based on the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) curriculum standards approved by the State Board of Education.  All state approved and supplemental textbooks are provided free of charge to all students.

ABEKA CURRICULUM
At the K-2nd grade levels we pride our self by offering the highly acclaimed A Beka Phonics curriculum.  The research based phonics reading curriculum has years of proven results.  This curriculum offers comprehensive curriculum to help students with the foundations of reading at the lower elementary grade levels.

For students who need accelerated instruction, a state funded grant has been given to Advantage Academy to provide additional curriculum for reading and math.  The additional curriculum provides a variety of hands-on learning activities.  This curriculum goes hand-in-hand with the school’s philosophy of providing a variety of ways to incorporate learning into each student’s learning style, including audio, visual, and tactile learning.

MTA (Multi-Sensory Teaching Approach)
A research based multi-sensory approach to teaching the foundations of reading to struggling readers is an additional reading program provided for specifically identified students.

CHARACTER CURRICULUM / CHARACTER ASSEMBLIES
Students will learn character qualities based on the Seven Character traits that are the foundation of the school:  integrity, humility, authority (servant leadership), stability (dependability), community (cooperativeness), prosperity (good financial management), and victory (win with honor).  These are included in the curriculum throughout the school day, with emphasis on each of these in the weekly Character Assemblies.

Advantage Academy not only  has high expectations for their students, but also for their employees.  All Advantage Academy employees must strive to live by the school’s Seven Pillars of a Champion philosophy.

BIBLE CURRICULUM
A state certified course to help impact our American culture, to deal with the moral crises in our society is taught.  This course is not a part of religious worship, and is integrated within a secular program.  Character education based on traditional western values will be integrated throughout the curriculum in our efforts to Build Champions”.  The Bible will be used constitutionally as an appropriate study of history, civilization, ethics, comparative religion, or the like.

TECHNOLOGY AND TECHNOLOGY CLUSTERS
High School Level
Advantage Academy is committed to offering students the highest quality education using the latest technologies. Realizing that technology consists of a wide variety of areas, Advantage Academy areas of  focus are Networking, Hardware Repair and Office Applications. With only 3 College Level IT Academy’s within a 300 mile radius, Advantage Academy is proud to be one of the first Public Charter Schools to participate in such a program.
We are able to offer many of our student’s high tech courses that will prepare them for real world situations in the area of technology. These courses will prepare students for some of today’s highly recognized certification exams such as Comptia A+, Microsoft Office Specialist, Microsoft Certified Professional, Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer, Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator, Cisco Certified Systems Associate and many more.

Dual Credit
All of our IT courses qualify for dual credit if a student passes any of the previous mentioned certifications. There are literally thousands of participating colleges and universities throughout the United States which will allow students the opportunity graduate from college and have a great headstart on his her degree plan!

Adult Education
Our second Phase is to open our IT Academy up for Adult learning. Advantage Academy realizes the need for adults to enhance their technology skills.

Testing Center
Advantage Academy is looking forward to opening its first IT testing Center. The nearest authorized testing site for schools are anywhere from 50-100 miles. This Authorized Testing Center we will be able to administer many of the highly recognized exams on our premises. We will be able to provide discounted vouchers to all students who participate in our IT Academy, making the exams more affordable. Advantage Academy will be able to work with other IT institutions in scheduling outside students for testing on any of our designated testing labs.

Job Placement
With students achieving highly recognized certifications, job placement will be an ease. It is estimated that within the next 5 years, over 200,000 new Technology jobs will be in demand.
The Pay Scale on several of the mentioned certifications start out at a minimum of $38,000 with at least one year experience.

Are the teachers qualified?

All of our teachers are either degreed, certified or are highly qualified in the subject areas that they teach. Advantage Academy is working towards having all of our teachers certified and highly qualified. As of October 2007, over 77% of our teachers are highly qualified by state standards.

Who can attend the Advantge Academy... and is it really FREE?

Because we are a public school, we are an open enrollment charter. We accept students on a first come first serve basis, however because this is a school of choice, students with a history of discipline problems, or whose previous school reports an expulsion prior year at an alternative campus, excessive absences, arrest for criminal activity, or are currently on probation will not be accepted for enrollment at eagle advantage schools. At Advantage Academy schools, there are no tuition fees to worry about!