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My experience is as 7 year AACS parent, so take from this what you may. Academically AACS is perhaps average. I see little beyond what parents in their 40 s might have experienced in their own education 25+ years ago. They offer all the traditional math, science, language, language arts and history classes but I the depth and breadth of the curriculum is not top notch. Little comprehensive support is available for children needing extra help. School activities and sports are what you might expect for a school this size. Thing is, they don t purport to be leaders in these areas and they are not. Unfortunately where they fail to live up to their billing is in the Christian-centered portion of their mission statement. Enforcement of the code of conduct takes a don t ask, don t tell approach. Children of high profile parents/donors do appear to get special treatment whether they do or not. Cliques and the stereotyping/ostracizing that they promote are so visible as to be almost defiant. The student body is much more diverse than it once was. Unfortunately it s more of a salad bowl than a melting pot, with kids from like-backgrounds more likely to hang together then integrate. Actively recruiting athletes to support the donor hunger for MIAA results undermines the entire premise of the school faith first. Once a very small, faith-based school in Annapolis, they have decided to make the leap and try to become a regional education presence. Making that leap has lead the school to make some unfortunate compromises. These compromises are inconsistent with their mission statement and the unbiased observer easily notes some significant hypocritical behavior. There is certainly a feeling of a caste system amongst the parents with the high profile donor parents occupying the highest caste. Just walk into a school activity and watch the finger-pointing and whispering. It s a Peyton Place. Worst of all is that the student body sees everything and is learning from their observation; money and influence go hand-in-hand.
Our child is an Upper School student. After the experience we had this year, we must say that it seems the administration has forgotten why AACS exists. In their own words, AACS exists 'to support Christian parents by providing academic instruction to students consistent with the Christ-centered teaching they receive at home and at church.' When our child encountered academic difficulties in the second semester, we received little support. We emailed all teachers: only 2 responded. No one else ever contacted us. We contacted the Academic Advising Office, who seemed unaware of the situation and gave little attention to it. Considering that tuition is around $12,000, we think we have a right to expect much more. We wonder if the emphasis on building a beautiful campus has caused AACS to lose sight of its responsibility to its families and to become more self-glorifying than God-glorifying.
We have had two children graduate from AACS and have only one more to go. AACS has a wonderful music program. My children have been involved in band, choir and Madrigals. All the teachers teach from a Biblical prospective bringing our Lord into every subject. I am so glad my children have been privileged to attend.
I am currently enrolled as a student at AACS--I'm a rising Junior. I can say that AACS has an excellent math program--especially from H. Algebra II up, with some of the most brilliant teachers I know. They're able to effectively communicate their deep knowledge of the subject matter to students. While I cannot speak as highly of the science program (although I've heard older students speak very highly the upper levels--AP Bio, Physics, especially AP Bio). In addition, the history department--once again especially in the higher levels--is top-notch. In my experience, the most astounding expertise is to be found in the English department--ever since I first came to AACS I have stood in awe of the brilliance of several English teachers. A great school.
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