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Education
Tyler Private Schools Provide Lots of Options
All Saints Episcopal School balances academic rigor with individualized programs.
Relocating a family means taking a careful look at education options in the area. In Tyler‚ families interested in private schools have a full menu of choices.
At All Saints Episcopal School‚ for example‚ class size averages 15 students. The campus has about 730 students and 80 full-time teachers.
Headmaster Arthur Burke says teachers and staff focus on academics‚ augmented with extracurricular activities that help students discover their passions.
“We are known for our academic programs and the rigor our teachers bring to the classroom experience‚” Burke says. “The balance comes with being in small classes and being able to address faith issues.
“We also believe in differentiated learning‚ not one-size-fits-all.”
The school‚ which celebrated its 30th anniversary in February 2007‚ also strives to develop students’ spirit of community service‚ with a requirement that students complete 60 hours of individual volunteer work. Expansion plans include a football stadium that will also serve as a soccer and track complex‚ scheduled to open in fall 2007‚ as well as a second gymnasium scheduled for spring 2008.
Other choices abound. Set on 180 acres‚ the Brook Hill School offers boarding options and a preschool through 12th-grade curriculum. While the Christian school is nondenominational‚ the program includes Bible courses and weekly chapel.
Also available is East Texas Christian Academy‚ which received its charter in 1979. The secondary school is the only private school in east Texas certified to use the Core Knowledge program.
“It eliminates gaps and repetition [in teaching]‚” says Kay Bellar‚ ETCA principal. “It prepares students for high school‚ college and the real world.”
Across town‚ Good Shepherd School adheres to a Christian and classical format‚ emphasizing religious education as well as grammar‚ logic and rhetoric.
Grace Community School seeks to provide quality education with a Biblical worldview. The school’s Web site describes it as relationship-based‚ where teacher-student mentoring friendships often last long past graduation.
Stepping Stone School‚ a for-profit private school‚ offers care and education for infants through middle school students.
“We offer individualized teaching for each student‚” says executive director Camille Brown. “If someone is on a fourth-grade level in something and someone else is on a second-grade level within the same classroom‚ they can go forward within their plan.”
St. Gregory Catholic Elementary School and Bishop T.K. Gorman High School form the Tyler Catholic School System‚ educating students from preschool through 12th grade. Both campuses have been designated Blue Ribbon Exemplary Schools by the U.S. Department of Education.
Story by Leanne Libby
Photo by Antony Boshier
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