Why Choose Beacon?

EDUCATION REIMAGINED

Beacon Academy inspires students to enjoy learning by discovering their best path toward a successful future, instilling the academic foundation, self-motivation, confidence, and curiosity for a successful matriculation and a lifetime of learning. At Beacon, high school education is reimagined with an innovative curriculum that is challenging, rigorous, engaging, and creative. Beacon faculty have the autonomy to design, pace, and deliver curricula to best suit each student’s needs. At Beacon, education isn’t just about learning…it’s about building knowledge and skills for a lifetime of success.

 

STRONG STUDENT/FACULTY CONNECTIONS

Adolescents have a strong desire to develop authentic connections with adults who inspire them. Through strong student/faculty connections, Beacon Academy provides students a community-based brave space to become fully realized, ensuring that they are known and valued, their self-esteem is preserved and nurtured, and they support rather than compete against their peers.

 

A SUPPORTIVE SETTING

Studies show that many adolescents today are afraid to fail. Beacon challenges students to take risks, make choices, and venture beyond their comfort zone in a safe and supportive setting. Students are challenged to advance at their own pace, exploring opportunities that support and stretch their individual learning styles—an approach where students participate in and have agency over their own learning and school experience. Students learn how to think for themselves, collaborate and work in teams, and interact with the outside world by working on authentic problems.

 

We also recognize the array of passions our students bring with them such as sports or the arts and strive to provide an important balance between academics and life beyond the classroom, including reasonable homework assignments, and without the hyper-focus on competitive GPAs.

 

PREPARING FOR A LIFETIME OF SUCCESS

Montessori philosophy informs our programming and our school culture. We place equal emphasis on academic achievement and developing non-cognitive skills. Our daily schedule is rooted in adolescent brain research, and we place a high value on creating an optimal learning environment for our students, from a later start time to the intentional design of our spaces, to the physical layout of our classrooms, to our utilization of the city of Evanston and beyond as an extension of our campus.

 

 

 

HABITS OF MIND	OUR SPACE	MISSION & VALUES
We strive to help our students to develop the aptitude and passion to learn actively throughout their lives so that they can adjust in an ever-changing future.	Our location in the heart of downtown Evanston provides our students with unique proximity and access to an incredible array of cultural and educational institutions.	Our students will master the skills, knowledge, and habits of mind necessary to meaningfully contribute to a complex and diverse world with compassion and confidence.