STA Academics

Science: The instruction and materials are aligned to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). California has delineated the middle school (6th-8th grade) NGSS by grade level. As we are teaching all national standards each year, we will therefore be covering all state standards for each grade, each year. California state approved NGSS standards will be spiraled through each year. Our daily instruction model gives us an additional 85-325 minutes of science instruction each week over the instructional minutes of a traditional middle school – based on a traditional middle school having science once a day for a 55 minute period, and STA having a science block four days a week for a minimum of 90 minutes per day, in addition to many Fridays being a four hour hands on block of time for project based learning, which will incorporate science and other disciplines.