Rigor
At The Cooper School, learning isn’t just about knowing the facts, it is about developing deep understanding and the ability to think critically and creatively. Our teaching uses guided discovery to support experiential learning that allows students to engage in the application and abstraction of complex ideas across the curriculum. The Cooper School Curriculum values challenging academics not only because they pave the path for success in school, but because exercising the mind can be joyful.
The Cooper School Curriculum is relevant to the self, the student, and the citizen of the world. Our student-centered curriculum is relevant to the interest and multiple intelligences of the individual learner. Our integrated curriculum highlights the connections among disciplines and topics. Our emphasis on purposeful, integrated discipline studies is relevant to the academic life of the student, preparing them with the tools and skills they will need to navigate an ever-expanding world.
Relevance
Our meaningful curriculum is relevant to the world: our emphasis on eco-literacy and service learning is in response to the present concerns of our planet and future needs of our global community.
How children learn is as important as what children learn. In our small, nurturing environment we place a premium on strong, personal relationships between students and teachers. In addition, our teachers believe that working with families is essential to children’s education. Our emphasis on social and emotional learning is exhibited in our Responsive Classroom Curriculum and our positive approach to discipline solutions.
Relationship
In this atmosphere of support, teachers act as coaches and guides for the social, emotional, physical and academic growth of students. Our responsive classrooms value cooperation, assertion, responsibility, empathy, nurturing and gratitude.
The Cooper School seeks to be a diverse community of learners and teachers because we believe that when people from different backgrounds play, work, learn, and think together they have the opportunity to better understand differing perspectives and common ground among people.
