Cottonwood College Prep Academy
An Interdisciplinary, Project-Based
Montessori-Inspired Charter High School
School Information
Learn more about what makes Cottonwood College Prep Academy a great place to get an education.
Leadership & Public Service Concentration
Discover our program designed for students who are interested in a career helping others.
Design Thinking Concentration
Find out about our program for students interested in a career in design, business, or engineering.
College and Career Center
Get the information and tools to apply to college or prepare for a career after high school.
Cottonwood College Prep Academy
An Innovative Public High School in El Dorado Hills
Cottonwood College Prep Academy (CCPA) is a free public charter school located in the Buckeye Union School District in El Dorado Hills.
CCPA’s Montessori-inspired high school offers a hybrid educational program that provides students the experience of learning in a classroom setting while also offering the personalization provided by online learning. Students will take the Concentration’s Course of Study in a classroom setting on the high school campus while taking the other courses using an online platform, all with the support of the school’s teachers and staff.
CCPA Mission and Vision
MISSION (The HOW): CCPA, influenced by Montessori principles, provides an innovative, rigorous, self-exploring education through experiential learning, design thinking, and meaningful interdisciplinary studies cultivating a growth mindset.
VISION (The WHY): CCPA’s vision is to guide our student community to love learning, to profoundly contribute to our diverse world, and to lead lives of achievement.
What’s Happening
Leadership and Public Service Launches Field Study Project
LPS students are investigating the questions: If you could explore a topic or a place of your choice, what would you explore? How would you make it happen? Through a multi-step process including inquiry, research, proposal writing, agenda planning, and public...
Design Thinking Embarks on new project
The Design Thinking Concentration is about to embark on another interdisciplinary project for all students. In this project, students will design and build a scale model of a house. This project will incorporate curricular standards from all subjects; in addition to...
Design Thinking Launches New Integrated Project
Design Thinking is in the beginning stages of our first major integrated project of the school year by looking at the essential question: How does my self-care have global implications? Students are tracking their sleep patterns, diets and physical activity to...
What is Leadership?
The students in Leadership and Public Service have just wrapped up individual projects where they answered the research-based question: "What is Leadership?" Using their 21st-century research skills, all students wrote informative essays not only defining what...