Admissions

We have several informational meetings each year for prospective parents, and we make sure that families have the opportunity to visit our school. You can attend an Admissions Coffee or submit an inquiry to start the process.  Students will be required to attend at least one Shadow Day with our existing programs, so be mindful of our Important Dates for the part-time classes for 2024-25. Also, join our mailing list to remain apprised of new programming and gain access to the event registration process.

We will offer a variety of experiences, both in-person and virtual, to provide information about Prairie Paideia’s academic programs and extracurricular opportunities.  You can attend an Admissions Coffee or submit an inquiry to start the process. Please join our mailing list so you may be apprised of new programming and have access to event registration.

Parent involvement is really important to us. We believe that home and learning are deeply intertwined and we are building an intentional learning community – not a school.  We now that parent involvement – that energy and commitment – will ensure that our community flourishes. Parent involvement attracts people; parents want the opportunity to be involved, and the school needs that involvement.

Apart from assessing the individual children who are applying to ensure we have the best opportunity to serve them, there are a number of other factors that we have to take into consideration. In no particular order, they are gender and age balance, parent involvement, diversity, and maintaining a variety of student talents and learning styles. We also have to consider siblings of students already here, as well as children of faculty and alumni. Of course, it’s important to us to accept children who will use this school well and strengthen the Prairie Paideia community, but we believe many would also benefit in some ways we have no way of predicting, and also add to the community.

We could fill the school with any one of several categories of students – those who are strong in math and science, those who are skilled in languages or the arts, those who are gifted athletically. We believe it creates a healthier school if admissions decisions reflect the variety of backgrounds and interests and talents that we want represented in the community. We don’t just look for children who have already demonstrated unusual talents; some kids’ traits are not particularly unusual, but they bring to the school and bring to life strong character and great promise. There are many ways people can make a difference: sometimes by their achievements and sometimes by their presence.

We actively seek racial, ethnic and socioeconomic diversity. Respect for diversity is a core tenant of Prairie Paideia’s mission. Every aspect of our admission effort includes attention and sustained work to build a school community that is as diverse as we can reasonably cultivate.

The information we gather in consideration of a student is in the context of admissions decisions for the school, not a comprehensive evaluation of a child – his or her past, present, or future work. When we don’t make an offer of admission, it’s more than likely because we feel the child would not do well here given our structure and available resources. It’s human nature to read more into an admissions decision than exists. Serving the needs of the whole child is the single greatest determinant.  If we know that we will not be the best place for a student to thrive, we know that admitting them will result in an unhappy family and a poor reputation for the organization. It’s lose-lose. We would rather help you find a place that will better support your family.  We are not willing to grow the organization “at all costs”.

This is not an easy issue. Some preference is given to siblings, but we are ultimately most concerned about meeting the needs of the child.

We love children and want them to not just handle school, but to thrive here at Prairie Paideia. Some schools advance children when they need a more rigorous academic program. At Prairie Paideia we’re able to meet the academic needs of almost any student by differentiating their work from their classmates’ while still allowing them to develop socially and emotionally with their peers. Just because a 3rd grader might be two years ahead in math, for example, doesn’t mean that they play and think like someone 2 years older. Prairie Paideia has managed to have the best of both worlds.

Ultimately, students will be placed where they operate best and we cultivate a community that does not see age as an indicator of hierarchy. We stand by the motto “It won’t be a thing if you don’t make it a thing” when it comes to how students regard someone in their class that is much older, much younger, or differs in some other way.  In a community that sees each person as a person more than their demographics and learns to respect diverse viewpoints, these issues become less relevant.

Generally you will receive a decision no more than 2 weeks after all required steps in the process are complete. The exception to this guideline is if we request additional records or information.