New Enterprise Academy was founded to meet the individual educational needs of the students it serves. NEA classrooms and teaching methods are modeled after successful academic programs proven to maximize each student's potential by providing the challenge and support each student needs to grow and flourish.

NEA's philosophy of learning involves a planned course of action, under stringent guidelines set forth by the Board of Directors, which identifies the process in which goals and objectives will be met. Our philosophy of learning is based on the following:

The most effective learning occurs when

• each learner takes responsibility for her/his own learning
  
• each learner is cooperative and collaborative
  
• classes are student-centered

When learners are active in the learning process, they

• develop critical thinking skills
  
• develop a social support system for learning
  
• tap into their preferred learning styles
  
• develop life-long learning skills

The faculty member's role in facilitating learning is to

• provide carefully constructed learning activities to motivate students to learn
  
• provide an environment for students to successfully meet course objectives within a given time frame
  
• provide opportunities for students to discuss and integrate knowledge into "real life" situations
  
• provide an environment supportive of students who desire to go beyond course objectives
  
• assist learners in how to find needed information
  
• assist learners in working collaboratively in order to learn from each other
  
• provide opportunities for students to demonstrate their learning and mastery of course objectives

Partnerships in Learning: NEA students benefit from collaborative and cooperative partnerships established with researchers, publishers, enrichment providers, academy leadership, classroom teachers, parents, and other students. It is well known that students perform much better in school when parents are involved in their education, therefore NEA strongly encourages parental involvement and partnership in many ways.

NEA also offers enrichment programs that supplement curriculum material and provide opportunities for hands-on, interactive, real-world learning experiences. One example of this strategy is to provide "hands on" interactive chemistry experiments integrated with the science curriculum.

Critical Thinking: Teaching methods activate critical thinking at all educational levels. Critical thinking is the mode of thinking -- about any subject, content, or problem -- in which a student improves the quality of his or her thinking by skillfully analyzing, assessing, and reconstructing it. Through NEA's student-centered learning environment, each student is exposed to academically challenging standards of excellence which foster effective communication and problem-solving abilities.

Differentiated Instruction: Not all students learn the same way. Based on this fundamental knowledge, differentiated instruction applies an approach to teaching and learning so that students have multiple options for assimilating information and making sense of the ideas presented. Classroom teaching is a blend of whole-class, group, and individual instruction. Differentiated instruction is a teaching theory based on the premise that instructional approaches should vary and be adapted in relation to the individual needs of the students in the classroom.