Slate School’s Studio Model for Grades 7 and 8 allows students to independently study aspects of larger group projects while building foundational knowledge for the whole cohort. Learners of any age can create positive change.

Sharing progress is critical to the growth of the learner. Students need frequent, thoughtful conversations with mentors and educators to support and guide their acquisition of critical skills and knowledge. The student’s process of reflection and goal setting with a trusted educator are the foundation of this communication.

During afternoons between Thanksgiving and Winter Break 2023, we created Studios. Inspired by the Open Studios of the New Haven Art Community, teachers offered studios ranging from Hand Work and Improv to Science Experiments and World Dance. While Open Studios in New Haven displays artistry for all to see, our Studios offered our students the opportunity to learn side by side about something new to all participants. The topics were chosen based on student interest and capitalized on the talents and expertise of our educators.

On most days, I spend the early morning at Slate School greeting the arriving students and their families at drop off. I am honored to observe the tender transitions from home to school, and from one family to our larger school family.

When students feel confident and self-motivated to learn, outcomes are improved, and attitudes are infinitely more positive across the entire learning community. Student goal setting, commitment making, and reflection are at the center of the learner-driven classroom….

The growth of the social and emotional lives of a cohort of children is amazing to observe. It is the most critical component of a successful classroom community, and the most elusive to clearly define….

Friends. For Others. Forgiveness. Gratitude. Our community at Slate School recognized the beauty and simplicity of Sanjiv Chopra’s foundational values, and we began to find amazing ways to incorporate them in the life of the school and in our own lives as well.

The definitions are simple. As simple as it is to see the value of collaboration, the act of true collaboration is infinitely complex.

At Slate School, the heart of every day is our work on projects. Beginning in October, each child selects his or her first unique topic of the year. The process, spanning selection to presentation, takes place 4-6 times in a school year. It is through their interest in these topics that most, if not all, skills are developed.

What is the purpose of a collection of books, and how does it determine the course of the education of a cohort? These are important questions that I had never had creative control to consider and implement. Yet every day at Slate School, the creation of our library and the importance of our book policy has become ever more clear.

At Slate School, we do not simply answer children’s questions. Instead, our children wonder and imagine about their questions, which enables them to continue wondering again and again until an answer that is reasonable, and oftentimes beautiful and insightful beyond their years, emerges.

In schools like Slate School that embrace student-led learning and vehemently oppose standardized testing, the task of demonstrating growth can be challenging. Rubrics can only express success through the eyes of their creator and therefore fall short.