Our approach
OUR MISSION
At St. Paul City School, our greatest asset is our community. We cultivate a team of committed, equity-minded educators who partner with families to empower every student to dream big and accomplish their goals.
OUR VISION
Every student prepared to fulfill a meaningful, values-driven life.
St. Paul City School is a non-sectarian preschool through 12th grade public charter school district located in St. Paul, Minnesota. River's Edge Academy merged with St. Paul City School in 2019 to expand both school communities and serve students and families through high school.
Vision 8:16
At St. Paul City School, we believe in supporting our students throughout their whole day. Our goal is for our students to have 8 engaging hours within school and 16 supported hours outside school every day. With this emphasis on the student both inside and outside of school, we aim to bring about a transformation in the way teaching and learning occurs while fostering resilience, curiosity, tenacity, self-discipline, and compassion in our students.
8 Hours—Outstanding Teachers: At SPCS, we know that the time students spend with us is valuable. That is why we work to support them through strong relationships, academics, and community. Our dedicated community of teachers and school staff share a focus on supporting student needs in order to foster learning. All of our district staff participate in relevant professional development to build knowledge and skills toward best supporting students academically and beyond. By putting high quality educators in each of our classrooms, we ensure that our students have the education they need to thrive.
16 Hours—Healthy Families: Since the majority of the student’s day is spent outside of school, we also focus on building opportunities for support, connection, and leadership among our families. We have built strong systems for our families including our Family Team and partnerships with critical community organizations like the St. Paul Promise Neighborhood.
ACADEMIC FRAMEWORK
We have a strong learning framework that starts in primary school by building exceptional readers and progresses towards building exceptional thinkers. When students love to read, they are able to unleash their curiosity and creativity in deep ways that prepare them to be 21st Century thinkers. Challenge comes through the love of learning and we promise to teach every child to love learning. Middle and high school students are engaged in active learning through collaborative and individual projects, fieldwork, research, embedded literacy and work with experts, in addition to guided instruction. Graduates are academically, socially, and personally prepared to pursue life beyond high school with honor, empathy, honesty, perseverance, and a sense of exploration.
SCHOOL DEMOGRAPHICS
St. Paul City School was first established in 1998 with a population of around 200 students. River's Edge Academy was founded in 2009 as an environmental high school with a focus on small class sizes and experiential learning. Today, enrollment district-wide is nearly 550 students. The demographic breakdown is 45% Latino, 21% African American, 21% Asian, 5% White/Caucasian, 2% Native American Indian/Alaskan Native, and 5% Two of More Races; approximately 90% of our students qualify for free/reduced lunch; and 100% are hardworking and resilient people!
“My daughter graduated from REA in 2016, but had I not switched her from the large school she was attending to the extremely supportive environment at REA, she would not have graduated. She suffered from social anxiety and the small classes and close knit community pulled her out of it and made her the successful young woman she is today. She has always had empathy and honesty, but her time at REA empowered her to be more honest with herself, and she now knows that with perseverance she is capable of anything she puts her mind to it.”
“The years I spent going to [St. Paul City School] have been and always will be the best years of my life. The staff there are wonderful and caring and will do anything to help you learn. The friends you will meet here you will never forget. This school will change your life forever and you won’t know it until you are gone. I hope that this school can continue to teach for generations to come!”
