About
Embracing Challenge as Opportunity
Our Mission: Empower a New Generation of Creative Problem Solvers With A Social Conscience
Powered by Constructive Adversity®, TEA’s forward thinking educational design combines academic excellence, character building, and real world adventures to develop confident and creative problem solvers who thrive in and contribute to dynamic and challenging environments.
Our Vision: We Believe in the Infinite Power of Young People
We believe students can make a difference in the world now and become the change-makers of today. We’re not interested in ‘preparing future leaders,’ but rather tapping their creativity, right now.
Our Values: Guiding us Forward, Together
We founded TEA on some important guiding principles and core values. In modern times like these, we must lean on them to guide us forward, together. These values and beliefs are core elements of our culture at TEA. They are embedded in our learner outcomes, guide school wide decisions, and embody the most important elements for which we stand. Now, more than ever, we stand committed to our values and to providing our students with the opportunity to look at current events through a critical lens. Our goal as educators is to teach students how to critically think, not what to think. We utilize experts and resources with diverse perspectives, data, and historical context to help students to develop their own critical thinking, evidence-based decision making, sense of self and ability to engage with one another and the world. We foster learning environments that allow us to expose students to multiple and diverse perspectives and encourage healthy, constructive discourse.
Annual "Real-World" Experiences By the Numbers
Our Results
Our graduates are thriving in top schools across the country from UC Berkeley to Georgetown University while our current students are changing the world every day in school. And while we do not “teach to the test” our students outperform national averages in standardized tests. We’re proud to be the only WASC accredited K-12th-grade private school in the Reno/Tahoe area.
Our students are recognized every year by colleges and universities across the US and internationally for their outstanding academic achievements and breadth of real-world experiences. From Columbia to UCLA to Northeastern University, our students' admission rates are exceeding the national acceptance rates at many top institutions across the US. Since 2017, students have earned over $11 million in merit awards, honoring their intellectual curiosity and commitment to their extra curricular activties. Please see the full list of college acceptances and enrollments since 2017 on our College and Career Counseling page.
TEA has earned the highest accreditation possible through the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC). As well as a CAIS accreditation for 7-years which is the longest awarded length. This was awarded in July 4, 2024. We are the only fully accredited K-12th-Grade independent school in Tahoe, Truckee, and Reno.
While we do not teach to standardized tests, our students do perform above national averages. The ACT is the standardized test that is most aligned with our program. All of our high school foundations courses are UC A-G approved.
From creating renewable energy devices to saving the Sierra Nevada Yellow-Legged Mountain Frog from extinction, our students tackle real-world problems starting at age 4. Here are some of the highlights from our students in action.
- 11th/12th-grade students traveled to Iceland to study geothermal energy implementation
- 7th/8th-graders study immigration issues via canoe on the US/Mexico border
- 5th-graders created a green energy device for a local wildlife park
- 2nd-graders work with local Washoe tribe to keep their native language alive
- Kindergarteners raise money and awareness for endangered frogs
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Our students are recognized every year by colleges and universities across the US and internationally for their outstanding academic achievements and breadth of real-world experiences. From Columbia to UCLA to Northeastern University, our students' admission rates are exceeding the national acceptance rates at many top institutions across the US. Since 2017, students have earned over $11 million in merit awards, honoring their intellectual curiosity and commitment to their extra curricular activties. Please see the full list of college acceptances and enrollments since 2017 on our College and Career Counseling page.
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TEA has earned the highest accreditation possible through the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC). As well as a CAIS accreditation for 7-years which is the longest awarded length. This was awarded in July 4, 2024. We are the only fully accredited K-12th-Grade independent school in Tahoe, Truckee, and Reno.
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From creating renewable energy devices to saving the Sierra Nevada Yellow-Legged Mountain Frog from extinction, our students tackle real-world problems starting at age 4. Here are some of the highlights from our students in action.
- 11th/12th-grade students traveled to Iceland to study geothermal energy implementation
- 7th/8th-graders study immigration issues via canoe on the US/Mexico border
- 5th-graders created a green energy device for a local wildlife park
- 2nd-graders work with local Washoe tribe to keep their native language alive
- Kindergarteners raise money and awareness for endangered frogs