Educating For Tomorrow
The schools of the Independent Curriculum Group put students at the center of the education process. We are part of a growing movement of leading college preparatory schools that emphasize site-based, teacher-generated curriculum for advanced courses.
“My friends at other schools tend to complain about their classes. It’s not about the learning for them. It’s about getting into college. Students at Fieldston sign up for classes because they love the subject.”
A Student at Fieldston School
Students retain more knowledge, probe more deeply, and have more motivation when they are active creators rather than passive recipients of information. Students who graduate from ICG schools attend the nation’s best colleges and excel by every measure of academic achievement, including standardized tests. But each school’s curriculum reflects the passions of its faculty and students.
Read the profiles of Our Schools, which describe each with primary emphasis on its program in grades 11 and 12.
Our section for Educators tells more about the movement toward curricular independence and includes a variety of helpful documents and articles from the national media. For those looking to discuss educational issues with like-minded colleagues, we have created an ICG networking/discussion area at ning.com that includes interest groups, forums, and event announcements.
Anyone interested in further information should Contact Us. We want to hear from students, parents, and fellow educators. We are particularly interested in contact from like-minded colleagues in the public sector, with whom we look forward to working in partnership.
Contemporary brain science has revealed why student-centered education is much more meaningful than test-centered education. Educators everywhere recognize the unfortunate consequences of our national over-emphasis on teaching to the tests, and public awareness of the problem continues to increase. At the Independent Curriculum Group, we look forward to a better tomorrow for students in all our nation’s schools.
“Our classes are not so much about the transfer of knowledge, but about students constructing knowledge for themselves.”
Mark Salkind, Head of School
The Urban School of San Francisco
The Urban School of San Francisco
Re-Imagining School to be Hosted at St. Stephen’s
St. Stephen’s Episcopal School in Austin, Texas, will host Re-Imagining School on Tuesday, January 3 from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. The program will offer big-picture thinking and practical insight about today’s most important trends, including interdisciplinary learning, alternative assessment, Web 2.0, the “flipped” classroom, service learning, personal learning networks, new directions in college counseling, home-grown advanced courses in grades 11 and 12, and even how cell phones can be useful in the classroom.
Roundtables Set to Kick Off
ICG will host Innovation Roundtables at five leading independent schools in January and February. Sessions will offer insight from ICG’s National Assessment Project, which kicked off in the fall of 2011 in seven cities nationwide. Roundtable host schools include Conservatory Prep Senior High School (FL), La Jolla Country Day School (CA), Saint Mary’s School (NC), The Seven Hills School (OH), and Shattuck - St. Mary’s School (MN).
Nueva School Hosts Innovative Learning Conference
Nueva School in Hillsborough, California will host an Innovative Learning Conference on October 20-21, 2011. The line-up of presenters includes Norman Doidge, David Kelley, Dean Ornish, Denise Clark Pope, Michael Thompson, and many more. Nueva, a founding member of ICG, is a grades PK-8 school that is recognized nationally for its leadership in implementation of design thinking.