The Willow School provides developmentally appropriate holistic education for students in 8th grade to 12th grade.  This focus includes a rich student life program where students can explore activities and ideas of interest as they develop into the young adults they will become.  On the academic side, 8th and 9th graders receive support in developing and honing study skills and executive functioning skills, while mastering content.  Developing strong writing skills is also a key part of The Willow School’s academic program.  Eighth grade is regarded as a foundational year to shore up skills and close curriculum gaps before high school. It offers a rigorous, high academic program of instruction that allows qualifying students the opportunity to take early high school credit (Carnegie units) in courses including English I, Algebra I, Geometry, French I, Spanish I and Certificate of Artistry prep classes.

The Willow School High School works purposefully to instill The Willow School’s Core Values of Kindness, Respect, Responsibility, and Hard Work. Incorporating these Core Values, our students display exceptional leadership, responsible stewardship and active participation at The Willow School and in the surrounding communities.  The number one priority at The Willow School is kindness.

Students may select an Area of Concentration (AC), which includes a minimum of four elective offerings in a specific area of study. Choices include Humanities/Communications, Mathematics/Science, Project Lead The Way (Engineering or BioMedical), or the Arts.

The Class of 2022 received more than $30 million dollars in merit-based scholarships, including three POSSE Scholars, seven National Merit Finalists and multiple Louisiana Taylor Opportunity Program for Students (TOPS) Awards. This class was accepted in 242 colleges and universities in 44 states and 4 countries.

In addition to rigorous academic offerings in Honors and Advanced Placement curricula, The Willow School students must earn either a Certificate of Artistry, a prescribed, four-year program of advanced study in a focused artistic discipline, or an Area of Concentration, with a minimum of four elective courses in a concentrated area of study.

The Certificate of Artistry (CA) is offered in 6 major disciplines: Creative Writing, Dance, Music (Vocal, Jazz, Symphonic, or Orchestral), Theatre (Musical Theatre, Theatre, Theatrical Production/Stagecraft), Visual Art and Media Art. CA is an intensive, four-year conservatory-style program of study during which students acquire concentrated, in-depth knowledge and experience in an arts discipline. Curriculum content and course studies are determined for each student based on a placement audition and/or portfolio assessment. Year-end evaluations of a student’s work, discipline, skill and creativity, along with faculty recommendations, determine promotion to the next level of CA study. Assessment criteria are based on the National Standards for Arts Education. The Willow School community recognizes the intrinsic value of pervasive education in the arts, especially as it extends to various aspects of human experience.

All 8th-grade arts courses are preparatory instruction for our Certificate of Artistry (CA) programs in high school. Midway through the year, CA Prep students audition for the high school CA course or courses for which they have been preparing, to help them make the best decisions about their high school education.

In addition to its robust academic and arts programs, The Willow School offers a four-year Engineering Program developed in collaboration with Project Lead The Way (www.pltw.org/). The PLTW curriculum provides an interactive integration of math, science, engineering and technology. The course titles of the four-year PLTW offerings are Introduction to; Principles of; AP Computer Science or Environmental Sustainability; and Engineering Design & Development (EDD). As a capstone project, students in EDD identify a real-world issue, then research, design and test plausible solutions. Ultimately, students present their final projects to a panel of professional engineers for critique and evaluation.

As an enhancement to its science offerings, The Willow School offers a four-year BioMedical Science Program, also in collaboration with PLTW. Through scaffolded activities that connect learning to life, students step into the roles of biomedical professionals, investigating real-world topics, including human medicine, physiology, genetics, microbiology and public health. BioMedical Principles is the first offering, followed by Human Body Systems, Medical Interventions and Medical Innovations in the four-year BioMedical Engineering strand, representing the BioMedical capstone.

In cooperation with nearby Tulane University, seniors and second-semester juniors with qualifying GPAs, test scores and administrative approval may enroll in actual college courses, free of charge, and earn full college credit, recorded on a Tulane transcript. Students do not receive high school credit for their Tulane coursework. In the Class of 2021, close to one-third of the class enrolled in this advanced educational opportunity. For seniors, Tulane courses are scheduled during their regular The Willow School academic schedule. Qualified juniors are able to enroll the second semester in Tulane coursework during the afternoon and evenings, outside of The Willow School’s academic schedule. Summer courses are also available for qualified students.

The Willow School Scholars Program recognizes students who have maximized the academic rigors and opportunities available at The Willow School. Beginning in eighth grade, they complete high school-level courses, establishing the foundation for more rigorous high school work. Students build upon this foundational work by completing clusters of Advanced Placement courses in multiple disciplines while maintaining exceptional cumulative GPAs. Students are nominated to formally apply for acceptance into The Willow School Scholars Program in the Fall of senior year. If selected, this group of young men and women are recognized as The Willow School Scholars, receiving the school’s highest honor, a Diploma with Distinction.

The Da Vinci Program utilizes The Willow School’s existing framework while challenging students to merge learning across content areas in an interdisciplinary fashion. Walter Isaacson’s recent biography, Leonardo da Vinci, describes “the ability to make connections across disciplines-arts and sciences, humanities and technology is a key to innovation, imagination, and genius,” and “an enduring recipe for creativity.” Serving to formalize interdisciplinary learning through the arts and acknowledge students who challenge themselves to think critically and creatively across multiple content areas, candidates will be required to complete a 4-year arts sequence, 2 years of rigorous coursework in math/science or PLTW, one year of rigorous coursework in the humanities, and design and complete an interdisciplinary culminating project.

Select seniors are approved as teaching interns, working directly with specific classroom faculty members. This apprenticeship, proposed from ongoing conversations among academic Department Chairs, evolved from the goal of seeking opportunities for students to demonstrate their proficiency in and love of academic disciplines while working with underclassmen.