An Overview of FDA

Shakespeare once wrote, “There are more things in heaven and earth…than are dreamt of in your philosophy”. These immortal lines are the heart to the learning of English at the Frederick Douglass Academy.

The English Department strives to explore literature by being canonically reverent and culturally relevant. As students progress through the sequence of English courses, texts increase in complexity, and writing pieces reflect that complexity by asking students to develop uniquely nuanced and academically informed responses to those readings. Very early on, students learn the skills needed for academic research with scholarly sources.

The study of history and social studies imparts reflective and evaluative ways of critical thinking on a macro level. By investigating the past, we hope our students will be instrumental in shaping a better future.

Students begin their high school careers by studying the past of our own nation and the world. The study of history and social studies is book ended during a student's senior year with courses in Participation in Government and Economics. The sequence reflects the need to learn from our past and become agents of change to ensure a brighter future for everyone.

A natural extension to the primary mission of college preparedness is global awareness for future success. As our world becomes increasingly competitive on a global scale, it is important for students to learn additional language and about other cultures. Students are therefore enrolled in languages to prepare for the world to come.

At the Frederick Douglass Academy students are offered French, Japanese, Latin, and Spanish. To extend and compliment what is learned in the classroom, travel opportunities are offered each year to enrich the experience our students have with modern and classical languages.

The discipline of mathematics is meant to develop and encourage problem-solving skills. Like science, mathematic skills are becoming paramount to our present day and our future.

Not simply a bank of formulas, mathematics at the Frederick Douglass Academy illuminates the connective tissue between all the different types of math. From algebra, to geometry and then from trigonometry to calculus, students are continually asked to construct the knowledge necessary for the understanding of mathematics.

As we enter the 21st Century in earnest, one thing becomes increasingly clear and that is technology and science are becoming increasingly integrated in our lives. At the Frederick Douglass Academy, we endeavor to prepare our students for the world to come in our science courses.

The sciences are not only a systematic way to view the world, but also an academic way to challenge and question that world. Through experiments in labs, students take learning from theory to practice. Students are exposed to sciences that explore the Earth we live on and the universe around us. It also strives to introduce more theoretical science such as Physics and Chemistry.