Setting students up for college success while maintaining a balance between faith-based learning and academic learning is the top priority for the educators at Katy-based Faith West Academy.

Founded in 1982 and located at 2225 Porter Road, Katy, the pre-K through 12th grade academy continuously sends off all their students to either college or the military after graduation, and often has a large percentage of their students who receive some type of scholarship funding. For example, $85,000 is the average Merit Scholarship amount that is awarded to the school’s graduating seniors.

The academy also has a relatively small classroom size compared to the average school, which helps create a close knit community in which the teachers and administrators know almost everything about their students. The average class size is around 13 students.

“It does allow the teachers to really individualize the instruction for each student, understanding their specific reading level or their strengths and weaknesses in their math facts. The class size allows the teacher to take the time to communicate individually with parents,” assistant principal Jeanna Bickerstaff said. “It allows us to really offer them a variety of experiences in that classroom that might not happen in a class of 30 to 35 students.”

The school evaluates all students through a program called S.A.I.L, or Student Adapted Individualized Learning, which builds a personalized plan for each student the moment they start the admission process. This allows the faculty to place students in the correct level of classes, assess their areas of talent or interest and point them in the right direction for any extracurricular activities.

“We literally look at each kid individually and work with them and their parents to create the academic and extracurricular plan that is going to best meet their needs,” principal Mary Strickland said. “For example, a student may not do as well in English so we will have staff members here that will make sure that they go to tutoring when they're supposed to go. A student may excel in math, so they can be placed in a class that is two or three years ahead of the typical student.”

In terms of how the school integrates a Christian worldview education into the standard curriculum, elementary students have Bible study everyday while secondary students have it every other day due to block scheduling. All students also attend chapel once a week in the morning, with the secondary chapel being completely student-led.

Through this education program, administrators believe students will be able to apply scriptures and the biblical worldview to everyday life and decisions they make.

“In the actual day-in and day-out in the classrooms, all of our teachers are very mindful of making sure that they're bringing the Biblical worldview into everything that they're teaching,” Strickland said.

For prospective students, the school offers tours and shadow days during which they get to follow around a current student and see what a typical day at Faith West looks like. The application for admission can be found here, and there is also financial assistance available for students who might need help paying tuition.

“Our staff put their focus on getting the students prepared for college, both academically and spiritually. We do a really good job of that,” Strickland said. “We have really great teachers. The tutoring and intervention we provide in our academic program really set our students up for success.”

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