Vision & Mission
John Adams Academy is restoring America’s heritage by developing servant-leaders who are keepers and defenders of the principles of freedom for which our Founding Fathers pledged their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor.
Taking you from where you are, to where you want to be!
John Adams Academies, Inc., was founded in 2010 and opened its first Academy campus in Roseville in 2011. In 2017, the Academy expanded to additional locations in El Dorado Hills and Lincoln, and in 2020 began its Online program. All campuses and programs are fully accredited by Cognia, which serves over 36,000 public and private institutions in more than 90 countries.
John Adams Academies, Inc. is preparing future leaders and statesmen through principle-based education centered on classics and great mentors. Scholars enjoy a classical liberal arts curriculum encompassing history, English, math, visual and performing arts, laboratory science, foreign language, physical education, and college preparatory electives.
John Adams Academies, Inc. operates Northern California's only tuition-free, TK-12 American Classical Education™ charter schools and is a member of the American Classical Lyceum®.
Why John Adams?
Dr. Dean Forman and Linda Forman founded John Adams Academy with the help of pioneering volunteers, parents and scholars. What started as an idea to provide a classical leadership education to a small local community, has led to the Academy providing its liberty-based education to as many families as possible. The hope is that one day, John Adams Academy will be able to provide this type of education to every family and community that desires this as an educational option.
Restoring America's Heritage
America’s heritage is a tradition of self-governing, virtuous citizens who unite in pursuit of unalienable, certain, and universal principles of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for all. This free society is grounded in the principles of liberty and freedom embodied in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States, and the Bill of Rights. These principles include:
- individuals are endowed by their Creator with inalienable rights
- the existence of objective truth and natural law which govern all humanity
- governments are instituted to secure the inalienable rights of the governed and derive their just power from the consent of the governed
- good governments are inherently limited in the form of a republic with checks and balances and separation of powers
- the inseparability of individual liberty and personal responsibility
- justice under the law for all people
Developing Servant Leaders
A servant leader is a self-governing citizen who is dedicated to causes greater than self; in particular, the cultivation, propagation, and defense of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for self and others.
A servant leader pursues these high causes by courageously applying truth, wisdom, and virtue as he or she leads others through service.
A servant leader is driven by an inner compass of virtues and core values, with a natural desire to serve and empower others. This is not about being subservient but about the sincere desire to help others. A servant leader has the vision to see what is and what could be, and has the will and abilities needed to move self and others toward the ideal. A servant leader has the courage to apply the virtues even at their testing point.
Founder's Statement
It has been more than twenty years since we listened to a speaker at a “Face to Face with Greatness” event. The epiphanies we experienced that day sunk deep into our souls. As the speaker shared stories of the founding fathers of America, our passion and patriotism were set on fire. The books he later suggested, including A Thomas Jefferson Education and The 5,000 Year Leap, revealed to us that the history of freedom has been largely lost to our current educational system—and the rising generation.
The desire for our own “Thomas Jefferson Education” that sparked in us that day grew into years of reading, thinking, public service, and acting. As we studied and served, we came to realize that this education was meant for everyone. Adams said, “Children must be educated in the principles of freedom.” This means all children. We also recognized that in a Democratic Republic such as the United States, all citizens have a part in government, and so, every citizen, college-bound or not, should receive the type of education that will develop greatness in mind and character to become servant leaders of integrity and sound judgment.
We realized the need for a uniquely American form of education patterned after the education that produced the great servant leaders that founded our nation. With this mission in mind, we witnessed the hand of Providence working through us and others in the establishment of John Adams Academy.
This institution is perhaps the most unique charter school in America today, because it promotes American Classical Leadership Education®. This type of education teaches and inspires thinkers, leaders, inventors, citizens, entrepreneurs, and statesmen. It trains individuals “how to think” and teaches them why it is important. Robert Hutchins said classical education is “the education of free men in the knowledge and skills that are needed to remain free.” Because leaders select the goals of a nation and the methods of achieving those goals, the education of tomorrow’s leaders determines the level of freedom, prosperity, and integrity of the next generation.
As founders, leaders, teachers, scholars and families we come together as academic entrepreneurs to restore not only America’s heritage, but a philosophy and system of education that has produced the greatest leaders, statesmen, and thinkers of the past 2000 years. The result of applying these principles in a school setting has been a resounding success. What began as a small yet passionate group of families in 2010 has grown to include thousands of scholars across multiple campuses. But most importantly, this success is measured in terms of a culture of virtue, inspired learning, and servant leaders.
An American Classical Leadership Education® as offered by John Adams Academy is the best prevention and the only hope that a “nation conceived in liberty…shall not perish from the earth.”[1]
Dr. and Mrs. L. Dean Forman
Founders, John Adams Academies
[1] Abraham Lincoln, “The Gettysburg Address,” November 19, 1863.