Gateway America Prep

Whole Student Approach

Traditional methods of teaching often look at test scores alone to measure student achievement. At Gateway America, we embrace the "whole student" approach to teaching, which combines rigorous academics with an added focus on the student’s physical, mental, and emotional well-being.
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The “whole student” approach is a growing movement in education, and can be a very effective method for helping students become lifelong learners. Students in this type of program are more apt to be self-motivated, curious, and persistent in their problem solving. Gateway America students have a great deal of responsibility and freedom when it comes to designing their own academic plans and setting their own pace of study. Each week, students map out what they will learn and what they plan to accomplish. Students start each day by writing out daily goals for themselves, which helps them stay on track with their learning plan. These may be personal or academic goals, and they evolve as the student accomplishes their goals and set new ones.

These assignments help students stay focused on their sense of purpose. At Gateway America, we believe that finding and focusing on a sense of purpose is a very important skill for young people to develop. We encourage our students to always keep in mind why they are here at Gateway and how it will help them achieve other goals.


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Another important element in a “whole student” education is quality of life. As educators, we believe that our students and their families should be able to spend quality time together. To help achieve this, we do not assign homework. In fact, the only homework at Gateway America is work that is not completed during the day. Typically, students will complete all the work they need to master each lesson, so there is no homework.ing and student-driven testing also help students learn other important soft skills, such as time management, self-motivation, and organization.