Our Education Philosophy

Our Connection to Faith

Gospel Witness:

At every level, our Lumen Christi Academies strive to foster a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and a communal witness to the Gospel messages of love of God and neighbor, as well as service to the world.

Our Commitment to Community

Authentic Relationships:

Our intentional school culture is anchored by positive relationships at every level – within student peer groups, between teachers and students, amongst our faculty and staff, in partnership with families and neighboring communities, as well as the broader global community. At every level, students and staff develop genuine trust in one another and feel encouraged to tackle challenges, take risks, and ask questions.

Deep Learning through Social Connections:

Research suggests that secure relationships, a sense of community, and collaboration can all positively impact learning. Relationships provide a buffer against traumatic life experiences, identity threats, and low self-efficacy as well as a greater sense of value and motivation. Similarly, working collaboratively leads to constructive emotions for learners but also supports meaningful encoding and lasting learning.

Professional Learning Communities:

Our staff, teachers, and principals work together to maximize learning and streamline operations across our network. We have created, and continue to iterate on, structures to promote a collaborative culture. We are shifting from the traditional, siloed parochial school model to a systematic process in which teachers work together to analyze and improve their classroom practice. By working in teams, our teachers develop greater trust and raise questions that promote deep team learning which leads to increase student achievement.

Our Approach to Academics

Rigorous and Relevant Curriculum:

We have adopted cognitively demanding and challenging curricular resources that provide countless opportunities for students to apply essential concepts and skills to real world, complex and open-ended situations. We know everyone learns best when their focus is directed toward content and experiences that are relevant, interesting, and challenging to them. Students' focused, frequent practice across diverse context content is supported by teachers who provide targeted feedback, help them define success, and guide them on their path of continual improvement.

Higher Order Thinking:

Students interpret, analyze, and manipulate information across curricular areas. They learn to connect and build on concepts while making inferences. We also encourage students to question things, without any negative reactions from their peers or their teachers. This is a hallmark of classrooms where students feel free to be creative. This creativity is further nurtured as students engage in assignments and projects that challenge them to invent, imagine, and design what they are thinking.

Real World Application:

Our students are challenged with authentic work, using methods that are specific to a given discipline, and apply what they know or what they are learning to solve complex problems. Concepts and skills are applied to situations, issues, and problems in the world beyond school. Connecting instruction to real-world, practical applications gives greater meaning to learning. This authentic approach to instruction helps students understand the purpose of their learning.

Continual Improvement:

Our data-driven professional learning communities judge their effectiveness on the basis of results. Teachers, principals and office staff work together in collaborative teams to improve operations and student achievement.

Our Relationship with Our Students

Meeting the Needs of All Learners:

Our leaders work to ensure an environment that caters to students’ unique needs and strengths. Our teachers integrate tailored scaffolds and supports in response to specific needs while maintaining high standards for all learners. We enable students to take in, engage with, and demonstrate learning in different ways. We have partnered with Loyola Marymount University (LMU) to bring a cutting-edge blended learning model to our schools that integrates traditional instruction with online learning, allowing instruction to be more adaptive and individualized.

Agency and Collective Efficacy:

People learn best when their learning activities feel meaningful and appropriate. Our blended learning approach provides students appropriate autonomy over when, where, or how learning is pursued so they can set their own pace. Our staff and teachers believe that together they can inspire growth and change in their students. This collective efficacy has the greatest impact on student achievement—even higher than factors like teacher-student relationships, home environment, or parental involvement.