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RISING STAR PRIVATE MIDDLE SCHOOL

A School’s Progressive Approach
Little Red School House grooms ‘citizens of the world’

Greenwich Village’s Little Red School House and Elisabeth Irwin High School has been on the forefront of progressive education since its establishment in 1921. The middle school’s small student body—between 150 and 160 kids in grades five to eight—follows a tradition set forth by acclaimed educator and social scientist John Dewey, whose colleague Elisabeth Irwin founded the school. The emphasis is on experiential learning, with a real-world approach to social justice and community development.

“We believe kids should learn through doing,” said Mark Silberberg, who begins his third year as principal this fall. “And [we believe] that doing should be connected to meaningful, real-world activities.”

A great example Silberberg cites is how the fifth graders study ancient civilizations as part of their humanities curriculum. In conjunction with their study of the ancient river civilizations of Sumer and Mesopotamia, the students create an imaginary culture and civilization that draws on a variety of universal themes—government, economics or the arts, for example. Students write stories connected to that culture and build corresponding artifacts. The “artifacts” then get broken and buried in bins in the science lab, where students then take on the role of “archeologists” and dig up the artifacts left behind by one of the other groups.

By tackling their studies using a diversity of perspectives, students develop a sophisticated view of history and scholarship.

“One of the things they discover that’s really important is they’re learning just as much about their biases and what they bring to the experience,” Silberberg said. “They understand when they read history books they’re really reading someone’s interpretation and it’s a partial story. This helps them to not only acquire knowledge, but to understand how it connects to experience.”

In addition to the school’s rigorous academic program, the middle school places a significant emphasis on development of the whole child. Students compare notes during twiceweekly advisory groups, comprised of 12 students and two faculty advisors that meet in fifth-and-sixth- and seventh-and-eighth-grade groupings. The students in each group discuss community issues and plan activities. The advisor serves as a point person for each child and helps to shape their educational experience.

“The advisor is an important person in the team of adults that support middle school students and is someone that parents can check in with on a regular basis,” Silberberg said. Underscoring the importance of cross-grade interaction, each fifthand- sixth-grade advisory group has a buddy from the seventh-andeighth- grade group. At this downtown school, students often shape required community service projects in response to current events. Last year, in addition to park cleanups and partnerships with local nonprofits, one group planned a fundraiser to help victims of the earthquake in Pakistan. The middle school community collectively ran 6,880 laps around the school—roughly the number of miles from here to Pakistan—and garnered enough sponsorship to raise $13,000, which was then donated to a school-building non-profit in the country.

Even the approach to nurturing students’ bodies has a community-building aspect. Although some kids might increasingly see more playing time than others at the seventh and eighth grade levels, there are no cuts. This same philosophy applies to drama and music programs.

“The gym, field and stage are just another classroom,” Silberberg said. But win or lose, he added, “The most important thing is to help kids to do their best and to learn to be supportive of each other.”

When asked if Little Red School House and Elisabeth Irwin High School sought to groom future leaders, the principal was modest. Actually, he said, the school is grooming “good citizens of the world” who will “be informed about the issues, and take a stand on them.”

“We think that leadership can be expressed in all kinds of different ways,” Silberberg said. “Our goal is to help students understand that in learning, we are always engaged with others, and while we are always responsible for our actions, we can have a significant impact on the lives of others.”

- David Crohn