Frequently Asked Questions
How is The New School different as an educational institution?
- A primary difference is that our classrooms are “child-centered.” This means that while teachers respect curriculum needs and demands, they design, plan, and implement curriculum strands in the context of each individual child’s needs, strengths, and timetable. As children and teachers meet over materials, ideas, and activities, teachers are constantly observing children’s understandings. If a child can move more quickly, or needs more time, when a particular methodology is successful or unsuccessful, adaptations in curriculum for that child are made. We practice assessment of children in an ongoing (formative) fashion rather than in final (summative) fashion. This allows for ongoing feedback loops of communication between student and teacher.
- We provide children with learning opportunities in a multiage setting. This has many benefits. Most children do not develop evenly in all areas; someone with exceptional verbal skills might find writing quite difficult. A child might be average in math but really enjoy problem solving and reasoning with logic. One might be sophisticated socially, but struggling academically. In a multiage setting, children are able to find true peers regardless of age. They also have the opportunity to take on roles as teachers and students with classmates. This allows for reinforcement of skills in many settings. It also engenders a familial atmosphere as children learn to negotiate and temper their actions with older and younger children.
Teachers provide each child with an individualized education plan. Each month we have one day when teachers “study” 3 or 4 children. In preparation, a teacher and a child go out to lunch and talk for 1 1⁄2 to 2 hours while the teacher interviews the child. The child knows that this interview will be shared with all the teachers and that the point is to focus on developing an educational plan that will provide success for them. On “Child Study Days” school is not in session (children may attend an alternative program at the school) while teachers meet to discuss the child’s needs and develop curriculum methods and materials for them. Often, as we plan for one child, we meet the needs of another child and curriculum is reformed with the individual children at the forefront. Teachers construct a weekly contract for each child listing the work they have to accomplish through the week. As children become more sophisticated in handling this information, they take a more active role in the contract development. They are encouraged to learn to organize their time and manage their work. This is an ongoing process throughout the child’s experience at The New School.
How are children taught by the teachers at The New School?
We believe that the basis for education is through developing relationships—teacher to teacher, teacher to child, child to child. The teachers design an environment that allows opportunity for relationships to be made and encourages the development of skills necessary for successful relationships. Teachers take time to know the children, see them in many lights, and develop activities where learning can happen at a level that is meaningful and challenging for children.
What children learn and what is taught are not necessarily the same. Children assimilate information idiosyncratically based on their prior experiences. The teachers observe and analyze how children are processing concepts and information, and then make adaptations in curriculum and methods to revisit issues and ideas with appropriate adjustments. A combination of individual work, group projects and explorations allows children time to learn from and with peers as well as to investigate individually.
Don’t students in each grade need to follow the same curriculum and learn by the same methods as classmates unless they receive special services?
Using New York State curriculum as a guide we have developed a coherent, school wide curriculum in math and language arts, science and social studies. Yearly themes in science and social studies are developed based on large topics and big ideas. This allows children to revisit content over the course of their seven years at The New School, deepening their understanding at each cycle.
We recognize that while there are general goals for children, the path to those goals may very well be as unique as the children are. The timing, materials, content, and methods will change from child to child, with the contract as an organizing and informational tool for children, parents, and teachers.
How can children be learning if they are having so much fun?
A lot of learning can be made fun through the use of games, interactive discussions, hands-on exploration, field trips and projects. Independence, and the flexible use of space by New School students can appear deceptively playful. In all aspects of the school, we aim to have children engaged in process. When this happens, children remain active participants whether it is “fun” or not, and experience the gratification of reaching understanding and competence.
How do you know how your child is doing if there are no tests, graded homework, or graded report cards?
Individualized, non-graded assessments which detail the child’s progress academically and socially in areas such as communication and problem-solving skills allow families and children to get a clear sense of how the child is doing in school. These assessments are shared with families during two parent conferences scheduled during the year. Parents are also always welcome to set up additional appointments with the teachers after school or call them at home if they have concerns.
Teachers have many opportunities to observe children at work and to ask children about their thinking process. For example, “Block Soup” is an element of a child’s weekly contract that looks at the instructional edge for a child in math. Teachers usually sit with a child at some point during the week and have a child describe their process of solution. In this way teachers see not only the answer, but also see the process used by the child to arrive at that answer. We use games in language arts and math on a weekly basis as diagnostic tools. We have discussions in social studies and science that help us understand how children are thinking. This also allows for social learning as children listen and respond to ideas from peers. Teachers keep anecdotal records of children’s growth and share this with each other, the children, and families.
Isn’t routine homework needed to reinforce what children have learned during the school day?
No. There is no research to prove that homework is effective or ineffective. However, we do give children homework when parents request it or when we feel that a child may benefit from it. We also have projects that do require children to read, write or research at home as well as at school, but these are usually in the context of a larger project in which many children are participating at school.
What is the teachers’ discipline policy?
We don’t use the word discipline; we refer instead to a guidance policy. Problem solving is a complex set of skills—learning to identify the problem, articulate the problem, break it into solvable parts, imagine multiple solutions, risk failure, etc., that can take a lifetime to develop. The school is a laboratory for children to work on developing these skills, with teachers acting as facilitators. We want children to experience competency in interpersonal skills and internalize the processes for best communication and problem solving.
Teachers function as advisors and safe havens rather than as enforcers. We keep our rules to a minimum: Take care of yourself, take care of others, take care of materials. Our expectation is that children must take time and effort to solve a problem with and/or without adult support. We work hard to make time in our schedule to allow for problem solving sessions individually, paired, small group and large group, as appropriate. When problems are more complex, parents, teachers, and children get together to work on them.
Is the school run by an administration and board members?
Teachers and parents (and the children too!) are viewed as a collaborative community, which forms and manages the school. While teachers primarily develop and implement the academic aspects of the school and parents (through various committees) primarily manage the business side of the school, the two groups interact to form a cohesive whole, which consistently supports and encourages children’s development.