HIGH SCHOOL / IB

Charyl Stockwell Preparatory Academy High School

Strong relationships and high expectations define our High School. We provide rich learning opportunities in an environment that appreciates our students’ powerful capacity to learn and achieve. Our International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma programme is available to all juniors and seniors.

The CSPA High School mission is to provide a safe and enriching place for adolescent students to grow, develop, and achieve. In our wholesome setting, they experience a rigorous and demanding college preparatory education that promotes intellectual development, moral excellence and international mindedness to create a peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect.

Underclassmen move through our integrated curriculum that is focused on knowledge and skills geared toward the future college student. We blend classical studies with contemporary material and ideas. We use innovative instructional practices like team teaching, Socratic seminars, and project-based learning. We encourage our students to deeply investigate interests of their own through Honors projects they design and complete with the assistance of teacher-advisors.

Upperclassmen pursue courses and projects aligned with their college plans, such as the International Baccalaureate Diploma programme, Advanced Placement courses and higher education dual enrollment. All seniors research and prepare an Extended Essay paper and presentation (all detailed in the Program of Study). The High School program also offers art, music and physical education.

Teachers interact daily with students in class and in the advisory program. They help students develop their high school plan and discover the joy of intellectual engagement. Students come to understand that they are valued as intellectual, capable and moral beings who believe in possibility and their ability to meet their goals, achieve success, and realize happiness as adults.

We are different.

Curriculum & Instruction

Our curriculum is rigorous and aligned with the expectations of highly selective universities while keeping in mind the social, emotional, and intellectual needs of each student. Our courses are delivered in a way that genuinely holds adolescents in high regard. We provide rich learning opportunities in an environment that appreciates students’ powerful capacity to learn and achieve. As a result, students know and like themselves, get along with others, and work collaboratively to solve problems. Our 2024-25 High School Program of Study details what courses we offer, how credits are earned, and what is necessary to satisfy the Michigan Merit Curriculum and CSPA High School graduation requirements.

We are bound by the Michigan Merit Curriculum which allows little variability in the courses that high schools can offer each year. The difference is the outcome of how we teach those courses. The CSPA High School average SAT Composite score is consistently among the highest in Livingston County. Among schools of enrollment of 300 or less, U.S. News & World Report ranks CSPA High School highly as a State of Michigan public high school and highly as a public charter high school.

Advanced Placement Courses

The Advanced Placement (AP) courses offered in the 2024-25 school year are: Physics, Calculus AB and BC, Statistics, Language and Composition, US History, World Modern History, US Government and Politics, and Comparative Government. AP courses allow students to experience college-level coursework and earn college credit while in high school. Students who score well on their AP tests earn college credit which saves them time and money once in college. AP coursework is taken into account by college admissions officers.

International Baccalaureate (IB) Program

We are an International Baccalaureate Diploma programme (IB DP) school. The IB DP is available to all of our juniors and seniors. The IB Learner Profile is a match to our mission and core philosophies.

The IB DP is recognized by all 2,200 colleges and universities in the United States as one factor in the admission process. Students who successfully complete the IB DP can gain access to many university scholarship programs and be granted college credit, thus reducing their college financial burden.

Every CSPA High School junior and senior is offered the opportunity to attempt the IB DP curriculum. We set the high expectation that every student can master the skills needed to be successful with the curriculum. We use our continuous progress/mastery learning approach to ensure that they do.

If you have any questions about the IB Diploma programme at CSPA High School, please contact Elizabeth Holland, CSPA Dean of Students/IB Coordinator, at eholland@csaschool.org / (810) 225-9940. The FAQs for Parents and 10 Reasons Why documents are useful resources.

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