Arizona's private dyslexia school

The Jones-Gordon School

Paradise Valley, Arizona

In the Classroom

Our unique approach

JGS educates the “whole child.” In lower and middle school, core subjects—math, science, and humanities (language arts and social studies)—are supplemented by a rotation of creative arts and electives. In addition, executive function skills (cognitive processes that enable planning, organization, initiation, attention, and other high-level abilities) and social and emotional skills are integrated into daily instruction across all grades. A continuation of our highly individualized program, our high school enables students to reach their highest potential and achieve their goals. Rigorous academics prepare our students for life beyond graduation, and to attain success on whatever path they choose.

Keys to our students’ success include:

Small Class Sizes

Our small class sizes in all grades create an ideal learning environment for personalized attention, close student-teacher and peer relationships, and fewer classroom distractions. School-wide, our faculty-to-student ratio is nearly 1:3(!); JGS students have an abundance of supportive, positive, adult role-models.

Individualized schedules, flexible groups

At JGS, every student’s schedule is unique. Groupings are determined by students’ individual abilities in each subject area, ensuring that every child is appropriately challenged and supported.

Multisensory curriculum

Educational research has long supported the benefits of multisensory, hands-on learning, for all ages—where students participate in activities using multiple senses at once for optimal absorption and understanding as well as engagement. JGS uses tried-and-true curricula with many programs holding decades of reliable research and results.

Project-based learning

Over the course of the school year, students are inspired to explore thought-provoking areas of thematic study, investigate real-world problems, and collaboratively solve a variety of challenges.

Specials & electives

In addition to core academic subjects, lower and middle school students have the opportunity to participate in specials (Cooking, Art, and PE) and a selection of electives that rotate on a quarterly basis. These classes enrich core curricular studies in the classroom and provide students the chance to experience how various academic subjects relate to the larger world. High school students are given the opportunity to participate in a surprisingly wide range of electives courses given the small size of our school. Classes such as Graphic Design, Creative Writing, Personal Finance, American Sign Language, Robotics (and so much more!) expose students to content that helps them express themselves, explore their interests, and shape their futures.

Technology

Technology is embedded across the curriculum to enhance learning, increase student engagement, and improve digital literacy skills. Various forms of technology are used by teachers to deliver content as well as by students to demonstrate what they’ve learned. Assistive tech is also widely used to support everyday learning.

Travel and Field Trips

We are dedicated to helping our students become global citizens. Through a variety of local hands-on field trips, JGS students build on classroom instruction, solidify knowledge and enhance critical thinking skills, gain exposure to the world outside of themselves, and enhance social and communication skills, all while creating lifelong memories.
To expand these skills even further, JGS offers middle and high school students annual trips to major U.S. cities (New York City, Washington DC, San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Monterey, Boston, Los Angeles) along with study abroad experiences for high school (Europe).