Academic Excellence in Progressive Education
“A community fostering intellectual curiosity, innovative learning, and emotional intelligence in the pursuit of academic excellence.”
When you visit The Country School, you will see children engaged in their work. What that may look like varies from day to day, and class to class. In 5th Grade, students may use the Bill of Rights as a resource for debating current issues and perspectives. In Middle School Science, you will see students creating their own labs to explore convection currents, and in Fourth Grade Language Arts, students will enhance their reading comprehension vocabulary by analyzing character traits via essays and journaling.
As 1st graders write about their families, their excitement for writing about something they love enhances their practice of handwriting and sounding out words. Eighth graders can apply principles of research, public speaking, and argumentation in a creative way, by debating politics and philosophy in character as Martin Luther, Leonardo Da Vinci, and Michelangelo. The cornerstone of student success at TCS centers on building their confidence, as they take risks and make mistakes in a safe, nurturing environment.
Everywhere you look, you will find students actively collaborating with teachers and peers, and connecting to new ideas. We encourage our students to ask questions and solve problems. We believe in hands-on, project-based learning. Our programs remain traditional, while teachers continue to innovate and progress in their methods.
The word “rigor” may infer negative connatations like “inflexible,” “harsh,” or “stern,” but real rigor gets students excited about the process of learning. In this framing, rigor is harder to teach, because it requires individualized instruction, and teaching lessons that reach beyond test-taking, and last a lifetime. Real rigor defines our children’s daily experience here at TCS: meaningful, important work that will help them become collaborative, creative, and empathetic critical thinkers.
Current research recognizes that overloading students with homework has no correlation to high achievement. At TCS, we lead by example, defining academic rigor by how engaged our students are and whether their understanding extends beyond the classroom.
Often, we are asked how we prepare our students for high school. When we talk with our graduates, families, and high school admissions officers, we remain confident that that the education our children receive at TCS empowers them with the skills and habits they need to be successful.