Scattergood's academic program is based on the belief that we must offer a curriculum which challenges young, curious minds while at the same time providing them with basic skills and information which will guide them throughout their future academic pursuits and careers. Scattergood's aim is to foster a "commitment to life-long learning."

Our core curriculum requirements insure that a Scattergood graduate will be fully prepared for the next level of their education. We are continually striving to challenge and our students and help them reach their full potential. We believe that when a student has a certain degree of choice in their academic program they will take ownership of it. As part of this process, we offer a program with a lot of variety and choice.

For over one hundred years, Scattergood has worked on developing a program that will promote an environment of active learning. While this goal of engaging students takes place in many classroom settings through creative hands-on teaching approaches, much of the learning at Scattergood happens outside the classroom. One-on-one tutoring between students and teachers, shared learning sessions among students, and casual meetings between staff and students both on and off-campus that are an important part of the learning that happens here. As one prospective student observed during her admission interview, "I like Scattergood; everyone continues talking about their classes even when the period is over. It's a place where it's cool to learn."

This atmosphere of active learning is further enhanced by teachers who utilize resources outside the classroom such as the farm, prairie, and Iowa City to supplement their regular courses. Students not only learn about the reproductive cycle in their biology class, they also witness the birth process of animals at the farm. Students not only work on understanding the intent of an author's work, they also have the chance to question the author herself at Prairie Lights bookstore in Iowa City. We also promote active learning through lab time in the sciences, open discussions in the humanities, application of math skills, and oral fluency in the second language program.

At Scattergood, the whole community is involved in the education process. You can measure everyone's involvement in the way teachers become genuinely excited about their classes, how teachers are constantly making themselves available to students outside the classroom setting, how discipline issues are not a constant source of distraction in the classroom, and how both students and teachers are thoroughly engaged in the learning process on all levels. At Scattergood, we are committed to the education of the "whole" person; and this education not only takes place in the classroom, but in the shared sense of responsibility that pervades the whole atmosphere at Scattergood.