Curricular Philosophy

As an outgrowth of Catholic monasticism, Cistercian values strive for academic excellence as a pathway towards personal transformation within community life.  The School has therefore established a curriculum that is both demanding and shared, extremely rigorous across all disciplines at every level, and identical for all students of a given Form.  The intense communal nature of the pace, depth, and breadth of the academic program challenges each person to understand that they must grow beyond their native strengths and asserts that the highest nature of individual success is found in developing talents alongside and for the sake of others.

Honors and AP Courses

Honors is the only “level” at which the School offers required courses.  By honors, Cistercian does not intend a simply comparative reference to more advanced pacing, more accelerated content, or a greater depth of inquiry but that the quality of discourse and study is profoundly rigorous, profoundly thoughtful, and thus worthy of being honored.

Cistercian offers no AP or College Board courses but has built a fully independent curriculum in which the coursework requirements typically meet or exceed the intellectual demands, critical thinking skills, and depth of understanding required in an AP course. Consequently, Cistercian students do very well on numerous AP tests, achieving AP recognition even though they do not take AP-recognized courses.

Formal Accommodations for Learning Differences

As one of the primary goals of the School is to build a community of learners, the School operates the Form system within the unified experience of a single-track, full course load, all-honors, highly rigorous curriculum that challenges all of its students to stretch themselves past their areas of particular gift or interest and strive for growth in all facets of education and personal formation.  However, because of the goal of forming a community, Cistercian both seeks and highly values the richness that arises from a diversity of intellectual and personal gifts and interests within its student community.  The School recognizes that the intellectual fabric of a Form community is improved by various academic abilities and a broad spectrum of learning styles and modes (including diagnosed learning differences).  While the nature of the School’s schedule and the program makes it impossible to offer formal accommodations for all learning differences in all situations, it is consistent with the very nature of the Form system to value the gifts of all students within a Form community and therefore to strive to meet the needs of all students who are currently enrolled.  Thus the School may, in rare cases, be able to offer certain formal accommodations as schedules and circumstances allow.

For More Information:

• Curriculum Guide-pnl-20230609
• Elective Descriptions – STEM 2019-2024
• Elective Descriptions – The Humanities 2019-2024
• Fall Freshman Art Elective Descriptions 2023
• Honors Senior Seminar Descriptions 2019-2024
• Textbook list

Form II (Grade 6)

Form IV (Grade 8)

Form VI (Grade 10)

Form VIII (Grade 12)

For those courses in Form VIII marked with an asterisk, students may receive credit through the Dallas County Community College District.