Expected Schoolwide Learning Results (ESLRs)
In seeking to form students in the knowledge, love and service of God, The Good Shepherd Academy's standards of success are:
Knowledge
A successful student is a scholar who:
- Seeks constantly to know God.
- Knows the content of the Catholic faith, and is able to defend it.
- Is knowledgeable about Theology, as the queen of the sciences, and thereby has all his or her learning subject to the integrating discipline that orders all other studies toward their ultimate source and end in God.
- Is trained in the Liberal Arts, especially grammar, logic, and rhetoric, and thereby has cultivated the powers of the intellect and conformed their mind to reality itself.
- Is capable in Mathematics, and thereby possesses an intellect trained in precision, logic, and order, and is aware of the beauty and intelligible design of God's creation.
- Has learned the basics of Science, and thereby has learned to pursue truth and cultivate wonder through the contemplation of the order and beauty of God's creation, with faith and reason working together in harmony.
- Is knowledgeable about History, and thereby has learned about human nature, of both its nobility and weakness, and has awoken to God's providential plan at work in the rise and fall of empires and nations.
- Has read in Literature and Philosophy and thereby has refined the moral imagination, trained the intellect to contemplate the true and the good, and order all knowledge toward wisdom and God as the Highest Good.
- Has read formative and enduring texts of the Western tradition, such as those by Homer, Plato, Augustine, Dante, Shakespeare, and Aquinas, and thereby has developed an understanding of reality as well as the nobility and weakness of human nature.
- Is familiar with great works of classical music and fine art, such as compositions by Bach and Beethoven, Gregorian Chant and works such as those of Raphael, Michelangelo, and Bernini, and thereby has experienced the raising of the soul to higher things and to have considered the order, and transcendence, of created reality.
Love
A successful student is a faithful Catholic who:
- Seeks constantly to love God, and what it means to love God.
- Understands Christ's command to love others, and to seek to lay down one's life for the brethren.
- Understands the sacrifice that love can entail.
- Has an awareness of, and acts in compassion for, those in need.
- Knows that the Catholic faith requires acts of charity.
- Knows that all genuine human love between a man and a woman is chaste.
Serve
A successful student is a citizen leader who:
- Serves God by serving others.
- Treats others with charity, justice, and respect.
- Works with honesty, excellence, and perseverance in all pursuits.
- Demonstrates leadership in various settings: school, community, and parish involvement.
- Seeks opportunities to live a life of service for the good of others for the glory of God.