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Mission, Vision, Core Values

Our Mission

Herron Classical Schools is a community of scholars that advances timeless ideas and content, builds a culture of respect and trust, and engages in an urban environment in order to prepare students to be world-class citizens.

Our Vision

Herron Classical Schools is founded on the belief that a classical, liberal arts education, where students are steeped in great historical thought and invention, is the best preparation for a future life of leadership and service.

Herron Classical School's curriculum is structured around a historical timeline which emphasizes the classic art and literature of many cultures. Presented through the lens of science, mathematics, and humanities, this unique approach to the organization of knowledge provides a means to integrate subjects, and leads students on a journey through the earliest human history right up to modern examples of human creativity.

Herron Classical School's classical methodology relies on Socratic dialogue and the classical model of education called the Trivium as its academic corner stone. The three phases of the Trivium include: 

  • Grammar – In this phase students acquire fundamental knowledge in all disciplines.
  • Logic– As students become world-class citizens, they learn how to reason and debate. Students apply their knowledge as they discern and evaluate, compare and contrast, and discover cause and effect relationships in any given subject.
  • Rhetoric – As students progress through the Trivium, they learn to apply the rules of logic to the information they have acquired. Students learn to think rationally and articulate ideas effectively.

Core Values

Herron Classical Schools:

BELIEVES THAT EVERY STUDENT IS A SCHOLAR

Demonstrated by:

A. Teachers’ respect for and engagement with students in the learning process
B. Teachers’ belief in students and what they are capable of achieving
C. Faculty and staff devotion to helping student growth
D. Shared belief that students are capable of reflective dialogue, critical reasoning, and engaging in meaningful interactions that promote a life-time of learning

ENGAGES IN AN URBAN COMMUNITY

Demonstrated by:

A. Promoting the interweaving of family, school, and city and broadening of worldview
B. The school community identifying its role at Herron Classical Schools in the larger urban context
C. Fostering meaningful connection to local and cultural resources
D. Valuing of diversity

ADVANCES TIMELESS IDEAS AND CONTENT

Demonstrated by:

A. Unchanging, timeless, essential issues and ideas that move through all subjects, that transcend cultures and geography, that inform humankind and, in fact, make us human
B. Embracing a classical curriculum which fosters a love of learning and understanding and the belief that members of the Herron community are accessing and contributing to a rich heritage of ideas
C. Belief that accountability to state, national, and global standards is helpful in validating the value of the classical approach

BUILDS A CULTURE OF RESPECT AND TRUST THROUGH RELATIONSHIPS WITH PEOPLE AND IDEAS

Demonstrated by:

A. A community of learners in which trust comes first
B. An understanding and respect for authority
C. Teachers sharing with students their love for their subjects and ideas
D. Students viewed as meaningful contributors, not products to be processed
E. A high value placed on collaboration
F. Investment in professional development

SERVES AS A CATALYST FOR RENEWAL

Demonstrated by:

A. Students, as beneficiaries of high expectations, a classical, liberal-arts curriculum, and caring relationships, mature into informed citizens who are prepared to contribute and succeed
B. Creation of a new archetype of successful, urban secondary education
C. Contributing to the vibrancy and livability of urban neighborhoods