Madison Country Day School

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Madison Country Day School is a non-profit, private day school in Dane County, Wisconsin. Madison Country Day School is now located in what was the Yahara Center. The school was established in 1997 with 22 students in pre-kindergarten, kindergarten, and Grades 1–3. Additional grades were added one at a time. An upper school was formed when ninth grade was added in 2003^[1]. It is the only non-religious private high school in Dane County, with its first senior class graduating in the spring of 2007. It acclaims itself as one of the most prestigious private day schools in Wisconsin, with an enrollment of around 250 students.

1 History
2 Also Known As
3 International Baccalaureate
4 Curriculum
5 References
6 External links

[edit] History

The school was originally planned for a 46 acre site in the Town of Westport donated by PDQ convenience store founder Sam Jacobsen^[2], with buildings to be designed by Robert A. M. Stern Architects^[3]. However, when a conditional use permit was denied by the Dane County Zoning and Natural Resources Committee^[4], the school rented quarters in a former schoolhouse in the town of Martinsville^[5], for initial classes. The school eventually located on 76 acres of land near Waunakee. A $3 million renovation project in 2001 converted sleeping rooms of the former Yahara Center into classrooms^[6].

[edit] Also Known As

Madison Country Day School is also known among others as "MCDS", and "Country Day".

[edit] International Baccalaureate

The IB Programme preserves a number of important features of the current MCDS Upper School curriculum and adds depth to our offerings through the diploma requirements listed below. Through a prescribed book list which mirrors our own, students in English will continue to develop a personal appreciation of literature and their oral and written communication skills. Students will also continue to study a foreign language, using literature to seek a native fluency in a given language, per the MCDS founding ideal. Likewise in Science, students will continue to learn the essential topics in a given subject and further develop their understanding of the scientific method through the IB emphasis upon laboratory work. Like MCDS, the IB Programme emphasizes an intellectual approach to academics: the IB math curriculum prepares students for further studies and careers but also aims to develop an appreciation of the intrinsic beauty of mathematics. One other feature of the IB Programme is that it is proven to develop an analytical ability and habit of reflection in students that matches MCDS’ liberal-arts ideal. In History, for example, students move beyond the AP model of exhaustive details to carefully studying a number of periods and areas in greater depth. Likewise in Art, students are evaluated on both their studio work and research workbook that ensures that their own work reflects and builds upon a solid grounding in the history of art. The Music curriculum is flexible enough to allow MCDS students to continue their pursuit of ABRSM standards if so desired.

[edit] Curriculum

MCDS has pre-kindergarten to 12th grade. Each grade has a unique set of goals for history, geography, music, math, English, Spanish, and science. Japanese, while previously required in 6th grade along with Spanish, is now only offered as an extracurricular club for middle school students. It is then offered as an option lieu of Spanish in the upper school as a full credit course. It has highly esteemed music classes with optional private lessons in piano, voice, woodwinds and strings.