Academics

Part of the St. Mary’s Mission Statement declares that the school offers a “high quality” education. This promise is exemplified in our academic curriculum which is designed to allow each child to reach his or her full potential. As a Catholic school, students attend formal religion classes from preschool through their senior year. The beliefs and values of the Catholic faith are also implemented into all academic subject areas as well as our extracurricular activities. In the elementary school, a solid foundation is developed based on the Common Core and the Minnesota State Standards. In addition to the core subjects of language arts, math, social studies, science and religion, our elementary students have daily physical education/health and music classes, regular computer and library classes and an optional band class with individual lessons. Regular assessments, including the NWEA tests and the Dibels tests, are performed in order to ensure that we are meeting the learning needs of each student. Interventions for students struggling in specific areas are implemented as needed as are accelerated projects for those students who prove exceptionally gifted in certain areas. In the high school, our students not only fulfill requirements in the core subjects, but are offered a variety of electives including Spanish, German, American Sign Language, AP Biology, Environmental Science, Lifetime Sports, Trigonometry, Calculus and Honors English. Our graduation is consistently at 100% with the majority of our students continuing their education at either a four-year college or a technical/vocational school. We are extremely proud of our high quality academic program at St. Mary’s as we strive to prepare our students for their lives after graduation.