Renaissance Arts Academy is incorporated as a 501(c)(3) California Public Benefit Corporation and is fully accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC).

ANNUAL REPORT FOR SCHOOL YEAR 2004-2005 (PDF Download)

ANNUAL REPORT FOR SCHOOL YEAR 2005-2006 (PDF Download)

ANNUAL REPORT FOR SCHOOL YEAR 2006-2007 (PDF Download)

ANNUAL REPORT FOR SCHOOL YEAR 2007-2008 (PDF Download)

ANNUAL REPORT FOR SCHOOL YEAR 2007-2008(Spanish) (PDF Download)

ANNUAL REPORT FOR SCHOOL YEAR 2008-2009 (PDF Download)

ANNUAL REPORT FOR SCHOOL YEAR 2008-2009(Spanish) (PDF Download)

DESIGN:

 • Music and drama are among humankind’s most ancient and powerful means of understanding and communicating about the world. The RenArts curriculum utilizes the physical, intellectual, and aesthetic disciplines of music and theater arts to furnish multiple points of entry into core academic content and create alternate gateways to success for students who might not thrive in a traditional school setting.

• RenArts provides high-level performing arts training for students at every level of development, bringing together a cross-section of L.A.’s diverse ethnic, economic and cultural populations in an inter-dependent, project-oriented setting that both models and demands self-discipline, mutual respect, teamwork, academic accountability, and ethical behavior.

• Our overall instructional objective is powerful literacy in all subjects, as set forth by Patrick J. Finn in Literacy With an Attitude: Educating Working-Class Children in Their Own Self-Interest. Rooted in the pioneering research of Paulo Freire, this concept distinguishes between the ‘functional literacy’ of a domesticating education and the kind of ‘powerful literacy’ that can expand political and sociological horizons. RenArts provides all learners with access to the linguistic, intellectual, and creative skills needed to be full participants in the communities of academic, artistic and political discourse.

• A Student Progress Compact is developed for and with each student, delineating academic, artistic, and citizenship goals for the year. By signing the compact, all members of the compact team – student, parent/guardian, academic advisor and primary arts teacher – agree to work together toward the successful achievement of the student’s progress goals.

CURRICULUM and INSTRUCTION:

• RenArts is a small school – 280 students in grades 6 through 12 share a school-wide classical curriculum, an open classroom, and mixed-age instructional groups.  Site-based instruction by credentialed teachers addresses California Content and Performance Standards, and encourages students to develop and meet high expectations for their own academic growth.  All students study humanities, math, Latin, and science (physics, chemistry and biology on a three-year rotation).

• Performing arts professionals provide a daily program of intellectually challenging and aesthetically rigorous music and theater arts training.  Music students choose between violin, viola and cello – daily group instruction and instruments are provided.  Theater arts students study improvisational ensemble work in drama lab.  In addition to their primary arts focus, all RenArts students study voice, sight-singing, dance, percussion and music theory.

• Instruction emphasizes cognitive apprenticeship to teach habits of mind, beginning with explicit demonstration and building toward mastery and independence by inter-relating concepts and facts in multiple problem-solving contexts.

• RenArts utilizes a parallel curriculum model, increasing levels of depth and complexity to create qualitatively differentiated instruction that serves the needs of all students.

• RenArts employs multiple methods of student assessment including STAR tests; formal reading, math and composition assessments; and portfolio- and performance-based assessments evaluated by school-wide rubrics aligned to state standards.

Sample Texts:

Consistent with the Academy’s integrated approach to the study of fundamental themes and concepts students are guided into active and critical engagement with all textual materials.  Supplemental materials in addition to primary texts are included in all content areas to ensure a multi-dimensional, thorough and diversely accessible study of the topics presented.

 • Humanities texts change yearly.  Works considered have ranged from The Iliad, Beowulf, Ovid’s Metamorphosis, Plato’s Republic, Machiavelli’s The Prince, Goethe’s Faust,  Shakespeare’sTwelfth Night, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Julius Caesar, and King Lear to works by Virginia Woolf, Walt Whitman, Melville, Kafka and Beckett.  Literature is contextualized by readings from historical works including A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn and The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers by Paul Kennedy. Supplemental materials include journal articles, essays, debates, films, websites, etc.

• Mathematics coursework includes texts developed by the University of Chicago School Mathematics Project, covering from Pre-Algebra through Calculus with Analytic Geometry. Supplemental texts have included Algebra Unplugged by Kenn Amdahl & Jim Loats and Zero:The Biography of a Dangerous Idea by Charles Seife.

School Culture:

As a small school of choice offering a classical academic and performing arts-centered course of study, RenArts does not incorporate many of the options available in a large comprehensive school. RenArts takes seriously the charter school mandate to create an educational program that offers an alternative to the current secondary school choices available to students and parents.  While some charter schools are designed to be like small traditional schools, others have implemented a six-day school week; still others have done away with classrooms altogether and operate in cyberspace.  At RenArts, the commitment to provide an arts-rich curriculum rooted in the classics determines both the scope of educational opportunities offered and the program limitations. All RenArts students participate in accelerated academic programs, mixed-age instructional groups, school-wide curriculum, and disciplined arts training.  There are no ‘optional’ classes offered, including AP courses, and no mountains of nightly homework assignments that preclude students from spending time with family and focusing on those activities that nurture their individual interests. 

In order to provide parents and students a true alternative to the currently available school cultures as well, RenArts purposely does not attempt to duplicate the extra-curricular activities and attendant social rituals prevalent in traditional middle and high schools, including sports teams, cheerleaders, pep rallies, proms, homecoming queens, and grad-night parties.  While families are free to arrange whatever activities they feel are beneficial for their children, RenArts does not provide any auxiliary social functions.  This is not an oversight; it is a component of the program design. Just as the RenArts open-classroom is not simply a lack of walls, the development of a school culture based on shared intellectual inquiry and artistic discipline is aided by the purposeful exclusion of certain conventional adolescent measures of achievement and popularity. 

By enrolling at RenArts, families are choosing an alternative educational experience. Although there is no audition process or prior training required for admission, the performing arts portion of the RenArts program is not optional.  Every student must choose a music or drama focus and commit to working toward specific program goals. Admission is by lottery and the school maintains an active waitlist of student applications.

Development and Management Team:

The RenArts Development Team – Sidnie Myrick, P.K. Candaux, and Maggie Edmondson – worked together to develop Renaissance Arts and continue to nurture it, providing on-site leadership and supervision for ongoing operations. The team combines extensive individual expertise, a shared passion for education reform for all students, and a solid record of proven success in education, arts, production and management.

Board of Trustees: