Renton Prep

Renton Prep Pre-K Through 5th Grade Education with an Emphasis on Classical Education supported with AI Technology Integration and Fine Arts.

Pre-K Through 10th Grade Education with an Emphasis on 21st Century Technology Integration and Fine Arts. High school prep for Running Start.

We’ve been putting a lot of thought into it. It keeps us up at night. “What?”(We’re glad you asked). Building elegant so...
08/23/2026

We’ve been putting a lot of thought into it. It keeps us up at night.

“What?”
(We’re glad you asked).

Building elegant solutions that optimize humanity without ignoring that generative artificial intelligence and agentic AI can do more harm than good without intentional design. Avoiding does not prepare children.

It can be tempting to outsource some of the most challenging tasks to AI. But, that runs the risk of missing the grit and productive struggle that supports development.

New reports in Fortune highlight data that shows students increased in homework scores and test scores declined by 20%. Brookings and Harvard show steady decline in U.S. test scores. We wanted to know how our data compared, since our design is intentional, purposeful, and supported by decades of research. We’ve been reviewing our longitudinal data and corroborating with third party researchers and our nationally normed standardized test scores.

Any guesses what we found?

You’ll just have to come back to find out!

(Bonus points if you post your guesses in the comments. Extra bonus points if you know our school well enough to answer correctly).

We know, we know, we don’t typically give you access to our nationally normed standardized test scores, because we don’t want to reduce your children to a quantitative data point, and we know they are so much more than a test score. It’s possible to have a bad day and test lower, or not be a good test-taker. But nationally normed and standardized testing does give us one kind of data that is useful to us, especially because we know it’s possible for schools to inflate grades on transcripts (causing later gaps in college entry skills).

The nationally normed, standardized testing information is for us, but we’ve decided to make an exception and give you some glimpses of behind the scenes.

We started collecting this data in 2017, so we’ve got a solid longitudinal insight to compare pre-, during-, and post-pandemic, and pre-, and post-broad accessibility of ChatGPT in 2022.

We’ve been analyzing data sets and cross-referencing with our intentional designs and Genesis Project IRB approved research in 2024-2026 & UW with Colleague AI.

Did we say we miss the laughter? Fun fact: Did you know we care about laughter so much, humor in the classroom is part o...
08/23/2026

Did we say we miss the laughter? Fun fact: Did you know we care about laughter so much, humor in the classroom is part of our job description. Why? Because even though there’s a time to be serious, so much in life can get too serious, that learning to choose to see joy even in hard situations is a skill that can be practiced. At the same time, it can take practice to articulate negative emotions or stand up for justice, and know it’s okay not to be okay. Proverbs 31:25, “She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come.” This photo is from our archives.

Do you know how much we miss your smiles, your laughter and your curiosity? We do. Your children are why we refuse to gi...
08/21/2026

Do you know how much we miss your smiles, your laughter and your curiosity? We do. Your children are why we refuse to give up. Every person who has been part of Amazing Grace and Renton Prep has been part of shaping something much bigger than a school. Each family has brought a perspective and legacy that shaped our thinking, made us curious, and challenged us on our journey of continuous transformation. We can’t always choose what external circumstances happen, but we can make choices what we do when something beyond our control impacts us. In those decisions, we are thinking of you, every day, every hill we climb, every hurdle we jump over, because you motivate us.

We’re hard at work building great things behind the scenes. We can’t wait to show you!
08/20/2026

We’re hard at work building great things behind the scenes. We can’t wait to show you!

08/19/2026

Color holds different meaning in different places, times and cultures. We’ve used color as intentional part of our design and taught students to observe how others use color, from Seattle Art Museum to learning color through coding and hexadecimal, then teaching color theory to younger children. Green is often associated with health and newness, living trees and grass. Experiential learning helps bring learning outside the walls of the classroom into the community around us, making learning more authentic and transferable. Here, a student uses technology to find a color equivalency to the clothing color choice by the artist, while engaging in close observation and creating a representation of their experience with the art.

Do you see these children? They are the future. Colleague AI and University of Washington AI Research presented us with ...
08/15/2026

Do you see these children? They are the future. Colleague AI and University of Washington AI Research presented us with a research report at the end of the school year. In it, they highlighted Ms Fernandez as highly effective as a teacher and a group of students who were presented with award certificates for their effective use of Colleague AI to support learning without outsourcing their cognition. The research didn’t just show usage time as a measure of use like some tech does. Instead, it broke down the type of prompts, even separating out prompts that try to get AI to outsource cognition. The research showed Renton Prep students and school had the least amount of these ineffective prompts of any partner school, described as virtually non-existent. The research findings attributed that finding to the intentional design of the school. Advances and innovation cannot just be about introducing tools into a classroom setting. Brookings 2026 report on AI usage shows that without intentional design and planning, AI can be more risk than benefit in school settings, but with intentional and effective design, can be beneficial for learning. Our past two years of Genesis Project has been shaped by your children, and the research partnership provides strong evidence that our design is highly effective, while maintaining human focus. AI is not going away. The question is, how do you want your children to be ready to live in and contribute to this world? We are getting ready to announce the next iteration of Genesis Project and its new name as we completed 2 years of pilot study under IRB approval, with adult- and student-driven (and presented) research to national and international audience, from Northwest Council for Computer Education and International Society for Transforming Education to ASU+GSV, to Washington Federation of Independent Schools and three University collaborations. We continue to advance, even when life throws us curveballs. That adaptability and resilience is the very human aspect that shows we live what we teach. And we know, it is your children that can make this world a better place. We’re here for it.

Future of Schools Forum held on August 13, 2026 at Eastside Prep, was organized by Washington Federation of Independent ...
08/14/2026

Future of Schools Forum held on August 13, 2026 at Eastside Prep, was organized by Washington Federation of Independent Schools (WFIS) in collaboration with Colleague AI and UW Professor, Dr. Min Sun, as a thought leadership event. Renton Prep was represented on the panel. We were so happy to share how our high school, then elementary students became crucial to our research and iterative design for learning with and shout AI. Michelle Zimmerman, (UW alum, PhD ‘11, and former UW College of Education Professional Education Advisory Board member), referenced the work of UW’s Emeritus Professor, Roger Soder (Education Leadership & Policy Studies) training on the essential discussions of teacher identity and preparing children to live in, and sustain a democracy. This aspect of teaching and learning continues to be relevant with AI discussions, and with children as researchers. We also shared how Colleague AI & UW AI research reports provided insight into the ways our model is resulting in effective learning with AI, not replacing cognition, creativity or faith. We are thrilled for the continued plans we have for the upcoming school year. Educator Jennifer Fernandez (UW alum, CS), has been selected to be part of an advisory panel for her exceptional approach and sensitivity to early childhood applications and approaches during 2025-2026, to inform the next iterations of design with Colleague AI.

08/05/2026

Did you see the Blue Angels at SeaFair?

When we teach students the design thinking process, it’s a process that is actually used by many industries. We’ve had s...
07/17/2026

When we teach students the design thinking process, it’s a process that is actually used by many industries. We’ve had students practice with digital ink, develop multiple prototypes, test their ideas, refine and iterate, bring their ideas to an audience for feedback, collaborate, gallery walks to ultimately produce a final product that is an actionable solution to a challenge. This is exactly what we are living and modeling through the challenges that were beyond our control starting with the Water Main break. For anyone who is new to our story, over 50 years ago, our original site was in Rainier Beach. The school was displaced by the City of Seattle to build what is now the Rainier Beach Pool. We moved up the street in South Seattle on Renton Avenue and then expanded to a second campus and joined the City of Renton, being recognized as exceptional community members and contributors to the Renton economy and global recognition welcoming delegations and Ministries of Education from around the world to Renton to learn from our innovative approach to education. Now that the City of Renton displaced us four times since March 2026, and impacted our property and business with such late notice, we are working hard on a smooth transition to our new permanent home. We are resilient. We transform. And we continue to add value to each neighborhood and community where we learn and grow together. We can’t wait for you to be part of what is next.

Did we say we won’t give up? We haven’t. Since May 2026 communication to families, we’ve contracted our own team to avoi...
07/17/2026

Did we say we won’t give up? We haven’t. Since May 2026 communication to families, we’ve contracted our own team to avoid more city delays or lack of reliable information and safety. Our team of amazing humans are many of the same people who renovated Renton Prep’s 200 Mill space from our 2014 lease. This team of architects, contractors, project managers, color designers, flooring and lighting specialists have been doing what seemed impossible with the late notice the City gave us (and even later confirmation that our property at 200 Mill has been contaminated). This is a peak into all of the hard work preparing the new location. We are thrilled this permanent location passed fire and health inspection. Without our building to meet in, and without our furniture and other property certified as safe and not meeting requirements to re-claim, we are using a makeshift desk of an old sign board and garbage can for hybrid virtual and remote meetings. We are living what we teach: resilience, hope, faith, and grit and persistence when the unexpected gets hard. We are demonstrating our core values, especially Creativity, Resolve, Interdependency, and Transformation. We teach your children that sometimes life gets hard and you don’t have a choice what happens to you or how you were treated, but you can choose how you respond in the face of adversity and devastating loss. Learning to take multiple choice tests without these skills is a limited education. We prepare your children for when life gets hard. And we live what we teach.

Address

200 Mill Avenue
Renton, WA
98057

Telephone

+12067235526

Website

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