Academics
From the Principal
Dear Parents and Friends,
As I prepared to write this, I asked myself, "What does it mean to be a Top Performer?" Last spring, I showed the school to a prospective mom with two young boys. She engaged teachers and students with a number of questions. As we concluded the visit, she said, "I've already visited about seven schools and most of them had strong academic programs, but I was looking for more. I wanted a school where teachers and students were happy in addition to the strong academics. Your students are happy here, and they have a sense of poise and pride in their school." This mom recognized four qualities of a top performer: a program of excellence, the work is something that is enjoyed, poise and confidence in one's abilities, and pride in one's accomplishments.
At OLG, our students are encouraged to share their God-given gifts and talents. Students know that our teachers will help them perform to the best of their ability. The end result is that our students are well prepared academically. Our School Norm scores on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills, a nationally standardized test, place our school in the top 2 or 3 percent of schools who administer the test. This is true for nearly every subject and nearly every grade level. Students also have the opportunity to explore the arts through special classes, integrated curriculum, and extra-curricular activities.
OLG is school of academic excellence, where teachers and students enjoy the efforts they put forth, and students have the self-confidence to perform well, resulting in the satisfaction of a job well-done!
Yours in Christ,
Gary Gelo
Principal
Our Educational Focus
All of our students receive instruction in the key areas of Religious Education, Reading, Language Arts and Literature, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, Music, Physical Education, Art, Spanish, Computer Technology and Library Media Skills. We follow the Religion curriculum of the Diocese of Charlotte, and the academic curriculum of the State of North Carolina. The Learning Support Program is offered to those students who have identified learning needs.
Our Achievements
We take pride in our outstanding academic record, which places us among the highest ranked elementary schools in the area. Graduates of Our Lady of Grace are well prepared for secondary education and historically have been accepted by the high school of their choice.
Our Testing Programs
The Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS) is administered annually in grades three to eight. Our National School Norm scores on the test are among the highest in the nation. In addition to the ITBS, we also administer the Cognitive Abilities Test, Diocesan Writing Test (Grades 4 & 8), the NC Algebra I EOC and NC Test of Computer Skills (Grade 8), the ACRE Religion Test, the Duke Talent Identification Program (TIP) and Explore Testing.