At the Chester Upland School District’s Design Thinking Digital Academy (DTDA), our educational focus is on providing a “fun and engaging, high-quality, online instructional program that prepares students for college, career, and life beyond high school.”
Our Students Learn through a combination of rigorous academics and “hands-on” projects.
Our Students Grow with the support of their families and our caring faculty.
Our Students Advance with a completely individualized educational program designed to meet their needs and goals.
Our Students Graduate with knowledge, skills, and tools fully prepared for their next step in life, whether it is college, career, trade school, or public/military service.
Rigorous Academics
Our academic excellence is rooted in our partnership with GradPoint™ software, provided by global educational leader Pearson. Gradpoint™ offers our students more than 280 available courses in the grade 6-12 library.
View a complete listing of Online Core and Elective Courses for grades 6-8. View a complete listing of Online Core and Elective Courses for grades 9-12.
With Gradpoint™, students progress through the coursework at their own pace with support, encouragement, and reinforcement from our certified teachers. A meaningful assessment cycle of pre-testing and post-testing allows students to focus on what they haven’t learned yet instead of reviewing material previously mastered. In addition to these assessments for content mastery, regular written or project-based learning assignments for every lesson ensure that students can apply the concepts, practices, and knowledge they have just learned.
Hands-On Projects
We welcome 21st Century Ed and the TechTrep™ program as our newest partners in educating the whole student. TechTrep™ provides a problem-based approach to real-world problem solving and helps our students grow by encouraging empathy, creativity, and prototyping as tools for solving problems.
Students learn a process for solving problems that strengthen their critical thinking skills, presents opportunities for creative solutions, and yields a skill set sought after by employers. By working through problem-solving scenarios, both independently and in teams, our students learn the essential skills of collaboration and communication.
Apply or Request Additional Information
If our approach sounds interesting to you and your family, please complete an initial registration application here. If you would simply like to learn more, please download our brochure. You can also email us at info.dtda@chesteruplandsd.org and we will respond to your request within 48 hours.
