Proof School
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox school
| name = Proof School
| native_name =
| logo = File:Squircle-Official-purple.svg
| image =
| image_size =
| alt =
| caption =
| motto =
| streetaddress = 973 Mission Street
| city = San Francisco
| state = California
| province =
| country = USA
| coordinates = {{coord|37.781271|-122.407927|type:edu_globe:earth_region:US-CA|display=ti}}
| type = Private School; Secondary
| established =
| founder = Ian Brown, Paul Zeitz, and Dennis Leary
| status =
| closed =
| district =
| category =
| oversight =
| chairman =
| dean = Sam Vandervelde (mathematics); Zachary Sifuentes (humanities)
| administrator =
| rector =
| principal =
| campus_director =
| headmaster =
| head = Sam Vandervelde
| chaplain =
| faculty = 25
| teaching_staff = 22
| grades = 6–12
| gender =
| enrollment = 125
| houses =
| colours =
| athletics =
| mascot =
| nickname =
| rival =
| accreditation = Western Association of Schools and Colleges
| national_ranking =
| test_name =
| test_average =
| yearbook =
| affiliations =
| website = http://proofschool.org
| footnotes =
| picture =
| picture_caption =
| picture2 =
| picture_caption2 =
| category_label =
| gender_label =
| affiliation =
| assst_admin =
| president =
| chairman_label =
| asst principal =
| head_name =
| head_name2 =
| head2 =
| officer_in_charge =
| grades_label =
| latitude =
| longitude =
| campus = Urban
| colors =
| student_union =
| free_label =
| free_text =
| newspaper =
| free_label_1 =
| free_1 =
| free_label_2 =
| free_2 =
| free_label_3 =
| free_3 =
}}
Proof School is a secondary school in San Francisco that offers a mathematics-focused liberal arts education. Currently, 125 students in grades 6–12 are enrolled in Proof School for the academic year (2024-2025).
The school was co-founded by Dennis Leary, Ian Brown, and Paul Zeitz, the chair of mathematics at University of San Francisco.{{Cite web |last=Chen |first=Ingfei |date=July 1, 2014 |title=A School Built Entirely Around the Love of Math |url=https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/35910/a-school-built-entirely-around-the-love-of-math |access-date=2022-11-04 |website=KQED |language=en-us}} The school opened in the fall of 2015 with 45 students in grades 6–10.{{cite web |author= |date= |title=Math skills add up at Proof School – San Francisco Business Times |url=http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/print-edition/2014/10/31/stem-education-math-skills-add-up-at-proof-school.html |accessdate=July 5, 2015 |newspaper=Bizjournals.com}} The curriculum is inspired by math circles, which emphasizes communication and working together to solve math problems.
Academics
{{unreferenced section|date=May 2020}}
Proof School is a full-curriculum day school that emphasizes communication, collaboration, and problem-solving. The school is accredited by Western Association of Schools and Colleges.
The school year is divided into 5 blocks, each of which consists of 6 normal academic weeks and a build week.
Each student has 5 courses: 4 morning courses that vary across grades, and a math class. The morning courses meet twice a week for 80 minutes per class. The math courses meet for two hours every day in the afternoon.
The (non-post-calculus) math classes focus on a different subject each block: Block 1 varies depending on grade, Block 2 is Algebra, Block 3 is Geometry, Block 4 is Algebra and Pre-Calculus, and Block 5 is Number Theory.
Extracurricular activities
Proof School currently has a number of internal clubs, and used to have a Zero Robotics team called Proof Robotics. The team qualified for the competition finals and was the leading member of the alliance Hit or Miss with the following teams: Crab Nebula from Liveo Cecioni in Livorno, Italy and Rock Rovers from Council Rock High School South in Holland, PA, USA. Hit or Miss placed 2nd place internationally and performed one of the first satellite hookings aboard the ISS.{{cite web |author= |date= |title=Zero Robotics High School Tournament 2018 |url=https://www.zerorobotics.mit.edu/tournaments/32/info/202/0/ |accessdate=August 7, 2023 |website=Zero Robotics}}
Students from Proof School have placed highly in a number of math competitions, including one student winning the European Girls' Mathematical Olympiad,{{Cite web |title=European Girls’ Mathematical Olympiad: Scoreboard for EGMO 2024 in Georgia |url=https://www.egmo.org/egmos/egmo13/scoreboard/ |access-date=2025-02-11 |website=www.egmo.org |language=en}} narrowly missing qualification for the International Mathematical Olympiad. Nearly every year, a student is among the top couple hundred high school students in the country in math by qualifying for the United States of America Mathematical Olympiad. One student attended the Research Science Institute and was selected among the top 5 research papers completed by participants.{{Cite web |title=Distinguished Written Papers and Oral Presentations {{!}} Center for Excellence in Education |url=https://www.cee.org/programs/research-science-institute-rsi/distinguished-written-papers-and-oral-presentations |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20241207194039/https://www.cee.org/programs/research-science-institute-rsi/distinguished-written-papers-and-oral-presentations |archive-date=2024-12-07 |access-date=2025-02-11 |website=www.cee.org |language=en}}
Students have also placed highly in other academic competitions. Multiple students have won the Caroline D. Bradley Scholarship.{{Cite web |date=2019-09-10 |title=Announcing the 2024 Class of Caroline D. Bradley Scholars - Institute for Educational Advancement |url=https://educationaladvancement.org/blog-announcing-the-2024-class-of-caroline-d-bradley-scholars/ |access-date=2025-02-11 |website=educationaladvancement.org |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |date=2020-09-10 |title=28 Gifted Learners Receive Caroline D. Bradley Scholarship to Attend Optimally Matched High School Program - Institute for Educational Advancement |url=https://educationaladvancement.org/blog-28-gifted-learners-receive-four-year-caroline-d-bradley-scholarship-to-attend-intellectually-stimulating-high-school-program/ |access-date=2025-02-11 |website=educationaladvancement.org |language=en-US}} In the Regeneron Science Talent Search, two Proof School students have been named finalists and three have been named scholars.{{Cite web |title=2021 Scholar Announcement |url=https://www.societyforscience.org/regeneron-sts/2021-scholars/ |access-date=2025-02-11 |website=Society for Science |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=2021 Finalists |url=https://www.societyforscience.org/regeneron-sts/2021-finalists/ |access-date=2025-02-11 |website=Society for Science |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=2022 Regeneron STS Scholars |url=https://www.societyforscience.org/regeneron-sts/2022-scholars/ |access-date=2025-02-11 |website=Society for Science |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=2023 Regeneron STS Scholars |url=https://www.societyforscience.org/regeneron-sts/2023-scholars/ |access-date=2025-02-11 |website=Society for Science |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=2025 Regeneron STS Finalists |url=https://www.societyforscience.org/regeneron-sts/2025-finalists/ |access-date=2025-02-11 |website=Society for Science |language=en-US}}