Class Size
Class sizes in the elementary range from 10 to 17 students per section, with an average class size of 14 students. Our secondary classes average between 8 to 19, occasionally bringing two grades together for Christian Studies in the high school.
Classroom size at Dominion Ridge allows the administration and faculty to identify each child’s individual gifts and interests and to guide each student to recognize who they are created to be and to learn how to transfer that knowledge to their classroom work and beyond to everyday life.
This unique approach to the classroom results in Dominion Ridge students becoming independent, lifelong learners, capable of becoming the best version of themselves.
Faculty
Our administration and faculty are experts in their field. As important as that is, they have as their first priority the interest of your child. At Dominion Ridge, your child is not a test score nor a just one of many. Every teacher at Dominion Ridge Academy receives annual training in Feuerstein Instrumental Enrichment (FIE) and topics of interest and development in neuroeducation and social-emotional learning. This provides the foundation for our unique approach to the classroom that goes beyond the curriculum to be a full, intentional approach to the education of each individual child.
Dominion Ridge believes in teaching all to teach all. The faculty at Dominion Ridge approach their classrooms as educational therapists, identifying the best course for learning for your child. Their FIE training focuses on developing and modifying cognitive areas such as analytic perception, comparison, classification, orientation, and more.
In addition, teachers are trained as mediators in the classroom, promoting a Socratic, collaborative, and creative approach that assists students in becoming independent, lifelong learners.
Dominion Ridge Cognitive Center
Dominion Ridge believes that inclusion goes beyond vulnerable learners to ensure that all learners are included. Dominion Ridge developed its Cognitive Center inside the school as a lifeline to students needing one-on-one support. The Center provides educational and social-emotional therapy, executive functioning coaching, and other support to its students.
There are less than 25 NILD education therapists in Northern Virginia (population > 2.5 million). Dominion Ridge has six licensed education therapists and three mediation specialists on staff who work with Dominion Ridge teachers to identify and respond to student learning strengths and weaknesses. Therapists work directly with students that require more intensive support. These additional services are available to students who are identified as needing supplemental support in the classroom.
Efforts are coordinated between the on-campus Center and Dominion Ridge faculty to ensure that classroom instruction and therapy complement and build upon one another.
Academic Calendar
The school year is divided into four quarters of approximately 9 weeks each. A report card is issued at the end of each quarter.
Parents are formally updated about their child’s progress at the end of each marking period.
However, Dominion Ridge uses Praxischool software, and parents can monitor their learner’s grades, homework, and upcoming assignments on a day-to-day basis.
Our students have been accepted at the following colleges and universities:
Some of our students opt for vocational school or the military. Students have a 95% acceptance rate at the college of their preferred choice.
