Academics

Cascadilla offers a complete high school curriculum as well as an English as a second language program approved by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. The School's goal is to prepare students for college in an accelerated program. Full-unit high school courses are taught by the semester; the typical student completes between 7 and 8 units per year.

Extra help and supervised study are available in the afternoon until 5 p.m. The library and the laboratories are open until then. No evening study hall is required unless a student's academic performance falls below acceptable standards.

All class grouping is heterogeneous, and the student-teacher ratio is 6:1.

Cascadilla uses a numerical grading system that runs from 0 to 100, with 70 the minimum passing grade and 75 the start of college-recommending grades. Reports, with individual comments, are sent home monthly; more-frequent reports are developed in special situations.

Certain reading and writing skills are required for entrance into English III. A three-level skills program is used for students who do not meet these requirements.

Cascadilla is proud of its sixty-six years of experience in providing a high-quality intensive English as a second language program. Cascadilla offers classes in reading, conversation, grammar, and writing at all levels of language ability. Students are enrolled in daily 1-hour-long classes and offered an optional elective course designed to prepare them for the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL).

Cascadilla offers three levels of study: beginning, intermediate, and advanced. Classroom instruction by teachers who are experienced in all areas of language education ensures that students make steady progress to the next level. The key to the success of Cascadilla's ESL program is a curriculum that meets the individual needs of each student; classes average 5 students. In addition, students are assisted in their process of application to American universities and colleges.