Core Pillars & Values

CORE PILLARS

At BALA, we are supported by three strong pillars: Excellence, Leadership and Wellness.

• Excellence: Through research-based curriculum imbued with the best strategies for boys as learners, all students will be expected to challenge themselves and their peers to reach the highest level of intellectual curiosity and critical thinking.
• Leadership: With leadership, ethical and moral values embedded throughout the school, all students are expected to be courageous and compassionate leaders within their classroom, school and community.
• Wellness: Students are provided with curriculum, skills, and guidance in social-emotional intelligence, sense of self, health and wellness. They are expected to make responsible choices regarding their social, emotional, and physical health, and the health and well- being of the school community.

CORE VALUES

At BALA, we encourage our student to become R.I.C.H... in character!  As the Boys Academic Leadership Academy, we are rich with respect, integrity, courage and humility.

• Respect - We respect ourselves, our families, our community and our world.
• Integrity - We have integrity in our thoughts, words and actions.
• Courage - We have courage when faced with adversity, challenges and opportunities.
• Humility - We have humility in our pursuits, struggles and triumphs.

At BALA, we are Brothers, we are Scholars, we are R.I.C.H!

CORE ACADEMIC EXPECTATIONS

At BALA, our students are expected to have P.R.I.D.E. in their academic work.  At the Boys Academic Leadership Academy, students' academic work have P.R.I.D.E. with precision of expression, relevance, innovation, democracy and evidence.

• Precision of Expression - Will demonstrate ability to express and communicate ideas with precision verbally and in a variety of written formats.
• Relevance - Will effectively demonstrate why this work is important. The ability to understand meanings and connections between subjects in the classroom to themselves and the world around them. The ability to ask “why does this matter?”
• Innovation - Will look at and/or create new ways of expressing or thinking about concepts.
• Democracy - Will use a clear voice and communicate strong choices, and consider alternative perspectives and viewpoints within the democratic process..
• Evidence - Will demonstrate compelling, strong, and accurate evidence to support his findings; will support or provide proof for an argument, thesis, solution, or point of view.

P.R.I.D.E. is our overarching approach to project-based learning and performance assessment.