This is a Prototype Web Site Archived for Historical Purposes Only
Demonstration Developed in 1995 by Tay Vaughan ('62) and Hilary Knight ('97)
Visit www.The GovernorsAcademy.org for the most current version

Welcome to Governor Dummer Academy
America's oldest independent boarding school.

One Elm Street
Byfield, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
508-465-1763 Voice
508-462-1278 Fax
Home: www.gda.org

Academics

A faculty member speaks about students... (60KB .aif file)

Governor Dummer's academic program reflects the Academy's emphasis on providing both the substance and structure to prepare students for college. The Academy's core curriculum equips students with a solid liberal arts education in classes that consist of approximately 12 students each. In addition, GDA offers a variety of collateral courses designed to spark and satisfy students' interests.

At Governor Dummer Academy, the emphasis is on teaching students, rather than merely teaching subjects. This educational model, which values each student's comprehension, is supported by a recent, intensive, two-year internal study. The results of that study include a re-assertion of GDA's long-held belief that mastery takes precedence over coverage in the classroom. Class periods, therefore are 60 and 90 minutes to allow for greater subject mastery, collaborative learning and student-teacher interaction.

Classes meet Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays or Tuesdays and Thursdays to compensate for the longer class periods. Combined with the Academy's longstanding tradition of close student-faculty relationships, this program enhances learning at GDA while preparing students for their transitions to college life, in which self-reliance is essential.

Governor Dummer's master teachers have found that students learn more readily when they are challenged, coached and allowed to discover facts through hands-on work in many subjects. This fact has been demonstrated clearly by the Academy's recent successes in the sciences and its Collaborative Learning and Sophomore Writing programs.

Unique to GDA's curriculum is the SCIENCE 2000 program, an interdisciplinary course developed jointly by the Academy and Tufts University. The program, required for all freshmen, exposes students to biology, chemistry and physics, with emphasis on laboratory work, environmental field work and computer literacy.

The Academy offers honors, accelerated and Advanced Placement courses in English, science, mathematics, U.S. history, studio art, French, German, Spanish and Latin. Successful completion of these courses often allows students to register for upper level college classes upon enrollment.

Students meet weekly with their advisors to discuss their progress in both academic and non-academic areas. At the conclusion of each of the school year's four quarters, advisors send students' grades and teachers' reports to parents. This close, personal attention to each student's academic, athletic and social advancement ensures that individual requirements are met, and that potential weaknesses are prevented from becoming problems.

The Academic Dean publishes the names of students whose successful efforts have earned them the distinction of being on the honor roll and high honor roll. Since 1934, Governor Dummer Academy also has been a member of the Cum Laude Society, which is modeled on Phi Beta Kappa and recognizes true scholarship. Headmaster Peter W. Bragdon, president of the GDA chapter, inducts top ranking seniors into Cum Laude each year, based on their outstanding academic work.