Merit Academy

Merit College Preparatory Academy
Address
1440 W Center St Springville , Utah
Information
Type	Public, charter
Director	Kimberly Mitchell
Grades	7–12
Enrollment	< 600
Color(s)	Navy, maroon, silver
Website	www.meritacademy.org

Merit College Preparatory Academy (MCPA) is a public chartered high school serving grades 7–12 in Springville, Utah, USA. It opened in 2008.

Facilities

The school building is a 63,000-square-foot (5,900 m²) ADA-compliant facility on approximately 12 acres (49,000 m²). It has classrooms, foreign language labs, a student store, art, dance, and music rooms, a kitchen and cafeteria, a separate gymnasium, and indoor and outdoor sports facilities.

Education

Merit Academy uses university-style learning and assessment. The curriculum follows the state core, with enhancements. Core subjects are taught by a licensed teacher with two assistants. Core classrooms accommodate 45 students, and can be divided into three smaller classrooms of 15 students when required, with a 15:1 student-teacher ratio.

Instructional Focus Tracks

Instructional Focus Tracks (IFTs), starting in the 10th grade, provide specialist teaching. Students can take 6.5 credits, of the total 27 credits they need to graduate, as intensive focused study in the following areas:

• Concurrent Enrollment (College Credit)
• Business
• Science & Engineering
• Science & Math
• Computers & Technology
• English & Humanities
• Foreign Languages
• Fine Arts
• General Studies
• Individualized Focus

Students taking courses in the Business IFT, for example, will start and run their own businesses either online or at the student store, under the direction of Merit's business IFT faculty and volunteer professionals from the community. A student in the Computers & Technology IFT might build a service robot in the Robotics course, or work on a website development team that produces a site for a real company. A student in the Fine Arts IFT might create a composition or short play staged and performed in the theater.