san luis obispo classical academy high school
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SLO Classical Academy High School (SLOCA) is a classical, four-year, independent private school with 79 students in grades 9-12. SLOCA High School was founded in 2009. Its first high school graduating class matriculated in 2013. SLOCA is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) and offers a full suite of A-G Certified Courses.
General Information
SLOCA has a strong, academically challenging, classical program that attracts passionate, committed young scholars from around California’s Central Coast. Often called the most rigorous high school program in San Luis Obispo county, SLOCA High School emphasizes historical literacy, writing, research, Socratic seminar-style learning, great books, logic, and rhetoric across grade levels and academic subjects. Our University Model 3-day Program meets three days a week (M/W/F), leaving Tuesday and Thursday open for homework, independent study, and reading. This schedule and our year-long academic courses allow us to meet all admissions requirements and standards for high school coursework while giving students a chance to read broadly and think deeply in a supportive learning community.
Highlights
- Accredited by Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC)
- A-G Certified
- Non-Sectarian
- Classical, Independent, Non-profit
- Average class size of 15 students
- 9:1 Student:Faculty Ratio
- Rigorous, college-level academics
- University-model schedule (3 days/wk)
- 97% of graduates attend college
- SAT data – 79.5% of our students have SAT scores above the 70th percentile.
- Awards: National Merit Scholarship Commended, Semifinalist, or Finalist; College Board National Recognition Scholarship recipients; NCAA Athletic Scholarship recipient.
- Governance: 501(c)(3) under a 10-member Board of Directors
- Web address: sloclassical.org/high-school
- Contact: Desi Cameron, [email protected]
Full-time Program Expansion
In addition to our 3-day Program, we offer a five days/week on-campus option with additional teacher support and electives. Students in the 5-day Program will experience increased community building with their peers, supported independent study and mentorship with teachers, and added enrichment opportunities. This program will follow our proven University Model with students attending their full class load on M/W/F, but on T/Th they will also be on campus with teacher-directed mornings, student-directed afternoons, and optional enrichment electives such as PE, art, or theater. Our program expansion envisions supporting more students in becoming independent, collaborative leaders equipped with the life skills for high school and beyond.
Academics
All academic courses are a year long. Honors courses are taught at the 100 or 200 college level. History and literature courses make up our core liberal arts program and are taught concurrently on a four-year, chronological rotation (Ancient World, Medieval World, U.S. and the Age of Enlightenment, and Modern World). We also offer an Honors-level current events course, The History of Now. For a complete reading list of the great books read and studied by our graduates over their four-year high school career, please see the second page. Lab science courses include Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Anatomy & Physiology, with two lab sciences offered at the Honors level. Math courses include Algebra I and II, Geometry, Trigonometry, Calculus, and Financial Literacy, with four math courses offered at the Honors level. SLOCA’s mathematics program emphasizes historical context and rich, mathematical understanding. Latin and Spanish are offered up to the Honors literature level. Each graduate is required to complete a senior project, a year-long independent research project and presentation reflective of each student’s academic interests and career aspirations. All of our courses are designed to be both rich in content and rigorous. Given SLOCA’s unique classical approach, we do not offer AP courses. We use a standard 4.0 GPA point system without grade inflation. Due to the small class size, we do not rank our students.
The following electives are available on rotation: Photography; Darkroom; Graphic Design; 2D Design; 3D Design; Digital Animation; Textile Art; Woodworking; Oral Rhetoric; Sacred Reading; The World of Tolkien; Philosophy; Food: We are How We Eat; Inner and Outer Nature; The Good Life; Expedition SLO County; Music Appreciation; Theater; Creative Writing; Film Studies; Psychology; Frankenstein and Other Cursed Creatures; Life Skills; Computer Science; Mesoamerican Studies; The Harlem Renaissance; Marine Biology; Zoology; History of Baseball; Steinbeck’s California; Shakespeare + The Globe, Coding Robots; Intro to CAD/3D Printing. If a course is not offered through our school, students may enroll in courses at Cuesta Community College, Hancock Community College, and/or California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo.
Faculty
Many SLOCA faculty possess either academic masters degrees or PhDs, and work professionally in their respective industries.
EXTRA CURRICULAR OPPORTUNITIES:
- Hanging Lantern Review is a student-curated literary magazine and writers’ workshop.
- CIF sports include: 8-person football, girls volleyball, cross country, boys basketball, girls basketball, baseball, girls beach volleyball, boys volleyball, and track and field.
- Additional clubs include Yearbook, Poetry Out Loud, Ancient’s Club, Surf Club, Film Crew, Science Bowl, and Scholar-to-Scholar.
