About Ashbrook: Academic Flexibility
Meeting the Needs of Students, One Child at a Time
One of Ashbrook’s greatest strengths is our commitment to academic flexibility. While our curriculum is structured and purpose-driven, it is never rigid. As I wrote in this space in the past, it is vigorous, NOT rigorous (as in rigor mortis!). What this means is that we recognize that students learn in different ways, at different paces, and with different passions, and our teachers make room for all of it.
Academic flexibility at Ashbrook starts with differentiation. Because of our small class sizes, teachers know their students well enough to provide enrichment to those who are ready to move ahead and support for those who need more time. Whether it’s offering advanced math to a sixth grader ready for the challenge, or allowing a budding writer to pursue an independent poetry project, our teachers seize the opportunity to meet students where they are and help them move forward as far as they can go.
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We also believe in the power of student agency. In the classroom, and within a thoughtfully constructed plan, our teachers make plenty of room for student input and student choice. As students grow and climb the grades, opportunities for choices increase in developmentally thoughtful ways. For example, outside the core and special disciplines, older students can choose from an amazing array of electives. Within the classrooms, when a student shows strong interest in a topic, our teachers respond with encouragement and resources, sometimes even designing new curriculum around that interest. Learning at Ashbrook is not a one-size-fits-all endeavor; it’s a collaborative, responsive process where we meet our students’ needs, one child at a time.
This flexibility extends to our schedule, which serves the needs of our students by allowing our teachers to use their creative energies to incorporate projects, debates, simulations, and cross-curricular units to keep learning fresh and meaningful. After all, students are more engaged and eventually more successful, when they feel a school is responsive to their needs and feel a certain amount of ownership of their learning.
At Ashbrook, we believe that flexible minds are the basis for a strong future, for our students and our nation. Our graduates move into high school and beyond with the confidence that comes from having been both known and challenged as critical thinkers and productive and fulfilled citizens.