Academic Overview

Framed by the outcomes and values of the four Experiential Learning Pathways,  classes and courses at Upper Mississippi Academy incorporate a “teacher as designer approach” to promote student achievement and academic growth as well as to create an optimal environment for interdisciplinary instruction and multi-dimensional learning experiences.

Classes and courses are rigorous, relevant, and relational and, curriculum is built around the elements of experiential learning. Students engage in projects that:

• are interdisciplinary, self-directed and long-term;
• are connected to the local community;
• involve community experts;
• provide an opportunity for experimentation, failure, reflection and improvement;
• ask students to seek, create and/or transform knowledge;
• allow a final product with many potential forms;
• document the learning process; and
• are presented to the community by the creator(s).

Visit the middle school and high school pages for specific academic offerings in those grades.

There is really no better way to understand academic life at UMA than to see it in action. Our Students as Designers page highlights some of their school projects.