Placing Teachers Front and Center

Landmark research by economists at Harvard and Columbia universities has shown that a high-quality teacher has a quantifiable impact on the personal and professional success of his or her students over the long term. This work validates our observation—and testimony from our alumni—that the guidance of exceptional teachers in the early years can exert a lifelong influence.

It makes sense that skilled teachers can have a profound, positive impact during the formative years in a child’s life. That early explosion of brain development, combined with the fact that primary years are a student’s first introduction to formal education, makes it paramount that the training, skills, intellectual gifts and personal qualities of the educator be of the highest order.

It is in the mission of The Children’s School to create a professional atmosphere and a set of practices that give “teachers, and the art of teaching … the time for self-reflection and growth.” While faculty members are trained and credentialed in education when they join the staff, the school offers an ongoing, highly sophisticated training and coaching system that allows them to advance down the path from good to great. On a daily, weekly and yearly basis, teachers assess each other, using a method that was developed by the school and modeled after the work of George Prince. At the same time, the school treats its teachers with the utmost respect, providing them with optimal working conditions and benefits that convey the high regard in which they are held.

Teachers are the heart and soul of the school, and faculty members know how much we care about their professional and personal well-being. We give them the precious resources of time and continuing education to understand who they are professionally and what kind of impact they are having on children. Thus, our teachers become reflective lifelong learners, which is why they are able to meet the high expectations that we set for them.

Strong teaching is the key to our success as an institution and, not incidentally, why our “graduates” go on to be successful in life. As the research shows, and the experience of The Children’s School confirms, a child who is guided by thoughtful, inspirational teachers during the early years will go on to find all things possible.

We invite you to meet our teachers and observe them at work in our classrooms.