The vision of St. Stephen’s Academy is to be a leading PreK-12 classical Christian school on the West Coast. We pursue this mission by maintaining a strong focus on academic excellence and character formation. Our time-tested classical curriculum equips students to be lifelong learners who possess a body of knowledge that enables them to comprehend the world in which they live, to engage contemporary culture from a biblical worldview, and to communicate clearly and graciously in any context. The ultimate end of our education is that our graduates contribute to the advance of God’s kingdom, whatever He calls them to do, and wherever He calls them to serve.
St. Stephen’s Academy has seen significant growth over the past decade, from around 50 students in 2006, to over 280 now. We have built an outstanding high school program, hired and trained qualified, highly effective faculty across all disciplines, established a Lower School facility in Beaverton, and leased additional classroom space at Lake Bible Church to house our Upper School.
As the board and administration look at the coming decade, they identify five strategic pillars for ongoing development:
- Academic Program
- Facilities
- Finances
- Faculty
- Cultural Distinctiveness
Academic Program
St. Stephen’s will continue to pursue opportunities to increase academic offerings, deepen our application of the classical method, develop the effectiveness of teachers, and monitor and raise academic performance of students in all grades versus benchmark institutions. Our academic vision includes continued focus on investments in math and science, as well as broadening our fine arts curriculum. The goal is that our students would be well-educated and better prepared for college studies than their peers from other schools.
Facilities
The board and administration desire to establish a permanent facility on a larger property in the Beaverton area within the next 2-5 years. This facility will be a single campus for PreK-12 with a 400 student capacity. We recognize the challenges of acquiring a multi-million dollar property in this environment. St. Stephen’s has always been financially conservative in its operations and wishes to avoid significant debt. Our multi-phase approach includes property search and evaluation, considering purchase and lease options, revenue option assessment, and a capital campaign feasibility study.
Finances
St. Stephen’s has made significant investments in the growth of the school over the past five years. We are also improving our financial metrics by significantly reducing our operating deficit and eliminating debt. As we move into the next phase of our strategic financial plan, the board and administration remain committed to conservative financial practices. Five-year objectives include:
- Tuition revenue to cover over 95% of operating costs
- Debt ratios less than comparable schools
- Fundraising used to build programs and cover facilities costs
- Generous scholarship levels at roughly 10% of budget
- Teacher/staff compensation raised to competitive levels
Faculty
St. Stephen’s teachers are essential to the mission of the school, and we are blessed by their skill, hard work, patience, and love for our students. Our vision for faculty includes hiring outstanding candidates who are passionate about classical education, who model faithfulness to Jesus Christ, and who inspire students to love learning. We seek to foster a vibrant faculty development culture, competitive compensation, with faculty as active participants (practitioners, innovators, thinkers, and writers) contributing to the classical Christian education movement.
Culture
St. Stephen’s has an excellent culture today, characterized by a grace-filled environment, a wholesome relational atmosphere, a strong volunteer culture, small class sizes, and interaction among students across all grades. We aim to continue to foster this culture and strengthen it. We also aim to more fully engage our parents, so that they become effective and winsome ambassadors for the school and its distinctives (the full trivium model, etc.). We also aim to maintain and strengthen our distinctively excellent programs, with the intention of bringing salt and light to the world around us.