We believe in the power of progressive education to move our students—and the world—forward.
A well-designed progressive education is more than an alternative to the more traditional methods. Rather, it intentionally goes beyond the traditional education to create a transformative learning experience that helps students find and develop the extraordinary within themselves and the world around them.
What does progressive education look like in practice at The Cambridge School of Weston? For starters, you’ll see these concrete characteristics of progressive education at work in our classrooms and community...
STUDENT-CENTERED
We take our students seriously from their first day on campus.
◎We believe learning should be interest-driven, in order to tap into the power of intrinsic motivation.
◎ Students learn to make good decisions by making decisions, not by simply following a pre-made path.
◎ In order to learn best, adolescents must feel SEEN and KNOWN. At CSW, each teacher works with less than 28 students per term, and they provide detailed, frequent, personalized feedback to each student.
◎ Student voice shapes our community, classes, and policies. Our student government leads Town Meetings to change school policies, and students serve on our Judicial Board and our Diversity Committee. Our Curriculum Committee reviews proposals for new classes and interviews teachers who hope to work at CSW, and we elect two students (with full voting rights) to our Board of Trustees each year.
◎We believe learning should be interest-driven, in order to tap into the power of intrinsic motivation.
◎ Students learn to make good decisions by making decisions, not by simply following a pre-made path.
◎ In order to learn best, adolescents must feel SEEN and KNOWN. At CSW, each teacher works with less than 28 students per term, and they provide detailed, frequent, personalized feedback to each student.
◎ Student voice shapes our community, classes, and policies. Our student government leads Town Meetings to change school policies, and students serve on our Judicial Board and our Diversity Committee. Our Curriculum Committee reviews proposals for new classes and interviews teachers who hope to work at CSW, and we elect two students (with full voting rights) to our Board of Trustees each year.
An example from the classroom: In our ninth-grade "BioConnections" class, students learn about gene activity, protein synthesis, body systems, and disease. In the second half of the course, students pursue a personal interest through a research question developed after several rounds of feedback from their teacher. Students then design an experiment that will address their question. This in-depth, self-directed project takes several weeks to complete and culminates in a public research symposium where students present their findings.
CHALLENGING
We venture beyond the limitations of a traditional curriculum.
◎ Because our curriculum is not tied to a test, we can go beyond what an AP curriculum can offer. Our Mod System gives us the time to dive deeply in 90-minutes classes, use primary resources to make connections between disciplines, and to consider emerging situations in the world.
◎ Learning at CSW is connected to life beyond the classroom, so that students immediately see the relevance of their scholarship.
◎ As progressive education thought leader Alfie Kohn says, “Thinking is messy; deep thinking is really messy.” Indeed, our students find themselves wrestling with complexity, absorbed in learning that often raises more questions than answers. The high level of challenge is deeply engaging and rewarding.
◎ Because our classroom culture values learning over knowing, students feel confident taking academic risks which leads to significant growth—and a healthy disregard for the “impossible.”
◎ Because our curriculum is not tied to a test, we can go beyond what an AP curriculum can offer. Our Mod System gives us the time to dive deeply in 90-minutes classes, use primary resources to make connections between disciplines, and to consider emerging situations in the world.◎ Learning at CSW is connected to life beyond the classroom, so that students immediately see the relevance of their scholarship.
◎ As progressive education thought leader Alfie Kohn says, “Thinking is messy; deep thinking is really messy.” Indeed, our students find themselves wrestling with complexity, absorbed in learning that often raises more questions than answers. The high level of challenge is deeply engaging and rewarding.
◎ Because our classroom culture values learning over knowing, students feel confident taking academic risks which leads to significant growth—and a healthy disregard for the “impossible.”
An example from the classroom: In "Reordering Chaos"—an integrated studies class—students dive into the Flint, Michigan water crisis. They're divided into teams, each representing one of the constituencies involved, from the EPA to the governor’s office, to the parents of the children who drank the contaminated water. Each team finds as many primary resources as possible to gain a sense of their constituencie's role in the crisis. As they wade through their research, the students’ understanding of the problem inevitably grows. They go from thinking concretely about the science of the pipes to considering underlying issues of poverty, racism, and politics. Each team then collaborates on potential ways to improve the situation from their constituencies’ perspectives. They come together in a final symposium, where they have to untangle the intersecting variables and agendas, and work across the table to come up with the most realistic and efficient solutions.
ACTIVE
Learning is not a spectator sport.
◎ We believe students learn the most through work they do themselves, and they remember best what they have discovered for themselves. Thus, the progressive teacher is a guide, rather than a taskmaster.
◎ Students engage with course content through lively debate, hands-on experiences, labs, studios, rehearsals, service-based learning, and fieldwork.
◎ Collaborative learning and problem-solving is also emphasized in a progressive classroom, as true learning rarely happens in a vacuum. There is joy to be found in a cohort experience where inspiring peers and mentors build off of each others’ ideas and energy.
◎ Whether it’s our "Marine Biology" class doing original research on an island off the coast of Maine, or our trip to France where students do homestays and teach each other about French landmarks and history… there are many opportunities outside of the classroom that integrate experiential learning, discovery, and collaboration.
◎ We believe students learn the most through work they do themselves, and they remember best what they have discovered for themselves. Thus, the progressive teacher is a guide, rather than a taskmaster.◎ Students engage with course content through lively debate, hands-on experiences, labs, studios, rehearsals, service-based learning, and fieldwork.
◎ Collaborative learning and problem-solving is also emphasized in a progressive classroom, as true learning rarely happens in a vacuum. There is joy to be found in a cohort experience where inspiring peers and mentors build off of each others’ ideas and energy.
◎ Whether it’s our "Marine Biology" class doing original research on an island off the coast of Maine, or our trip to France where students do homestays and teach each other about French landmarks and history… there are many opportunities outside of the classroom that integrate experiential learning, discovery, and collaboration.
An example from the classroom: In "U.S. History of Education," students examine major education movements in the United States from the Common School to industrial education, segregation and integration, No Child Left Behind, and the evolution of the charter school system. The goal of the class is to explore what has worked and what is broken in American schools, with the hope of working toward a more just public education that would reach and educate all children.
Justice-Minded
Students who learn in an environment designed to be equitable and inclusive extend their understanding beyond their biases and assumptions.
◎ 26% of our student body are domestic students of color and 15% are international students. We have day and boarding students from 10 states and 12 countries. Diversity, inclusivity, respect, and awareness are highly valued at CSW.
◎ We are proud to be the first (and only, as far as we know) independent school in the country to include a Social Justice requirement among our graduation requirements. Over 80 courses across all departments are designed to help fulfill this requirement.
◎ Each year, student leaders work with our Director of Community Programs for Equity & Inclusion to lead community programming and assemblies that raise awareness and builds competencies around issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
◎ We were among the country’s first schools to join a new national campaign to mobilize middle and high schools to prepare young people to be constructive community members and citizens who create a better world. Led by Harvard’s Making Caring Common project, the Caring Schools #CommonGood campaign aims to motivate schools to take action to help mend our country’s fractures and strengthen democracy.
◎ Our PACE (Promoting Awareness and Community Engagement) program includes experiential classes, events, and service-learning activities that will prepare our students to meet the demands of an increasingly complex and diverse world.
◎ 26% of our student body are domestic students of color and 15% are international students. We have day and boarding students from 10 states and 12 countries. Diversity, inclusivity, respect, and awareness are highly valued at CSW.◎ We are proud to be the first (and only, as far as we know) independent school in the country to include a Social Justice requirement among our graduation requirements. Over 80 courses across all departments are designed to help fulfill this requirement.
◎ Each year, student leaders work with our Director of Community Programs for Equity & Inclusion to lead community programming and assemblies that raise awareness and builds competencies around issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
◎ We were among the country’s first schools to join a new national campaign to mobilize middle and high schools to prepare young people to be constructive community members and citizens who create a better world. Led by Harvard’s Making Caring Common project, the Caring Schools #CommonGood campaign aims to motivate schools to take action to help mend our country’s fractures and strengthen democracy.
◎ Our PACE (Promoting Awareness and Community Engagement) program includes experiential classes, events, and service-learning activities that will prepare our students to meet the demands of an increasingly complex and diverse world.
An example from the classroom: In "Drawing: Otherness and Social Justice," students are asked to read the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, researching what led to its creation and choosing one of the 30 articles to focus on for the final project. Students explore their selected article from at least two distinctive points of view and create a triptych—three related images—to visually represent the article and those perspectives. Students leave the course with a better understanding of the role that visual art can play in activism and with the experience of having created work intended to prompt a viewer to think about a complex human rights issue.
Progressive Education at CSW
CSW has been at the forefront of educational innovation since our founding as a feeder school for Radcliffe College in 1886. In 1973, we launched our unique academic program, the Mod System, which allows for unparalleled breadth and intense, in-depth study, as well as flexibility for off-campus study. More recently, we became one of the first high schools in the country to implement a social justice graduation requirement.
Our progressive pedagogy is rooted in the student-centered philosophy of John Dewey, who advocated for active, experiential learning within a curriculum designed to accommodate the interests of individual students. In his eyes—and ours—education is not simply the acquisition of content and proficiency. It’s also a way for students to develop and refine the skills required to become informed, engaged, and effective participants in a democratic society.
The progressive values written by John French, Head of School 1930 - 1947, still hold true today...
"The progressive school teaches the child to think for himself instead of passively accepting stereotyped ideas. It keeps always in mind the fact that each child is different from every other, and that what makes an educated person useful in his particular walk of life, what makes him interesting, what makes him an individual, is not his resemblances to other people but his differences.” — John R.P. French, CSW Head of School, 1931
French’s Principles
- The school exists for the child—not the child for the school.
- The child is a total developing personality—not a disembodied intellect.
- The chief function of the teacher is guidance, based upon thorough knowledge of the individual pupil.
- No two children can safely be assumed to be alike in their interests, capacities or educational needs.
- The best guarantee of intellectual achievement is interest, which conveys its own reward.
- The only enduring discipline is self-discipline; and the only education worth the name is self-education.
- Children are not adults; the process by which ultimate self-control is acquired is a growth, not a jump.
- The virtues of responsible citizenship can best be learned by practice in responsible living.
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Every school experience should contribute to steady growth in capacity for self-direction, and in attitudes and habits of social responsibility.
Contact CSW Admissions
CSW Admissions Office
45 Georgian Road
Weston, MA 02493
45 Georgian Road
Weston, MA 02493
781-642-8650
admissions@csw.org
admissions@csw.org
Office Hours:
The CSW Admissions Office is open Monday - Friday from 8:00 am until 4:00 pm.
The Cambridge School of Weston is a progressive high school for day and boarding students in grades 9–12 and PG. CSW's mission is to provide a progressive education that emphasizes deep learning, meaningful relationships, and a dynamic program that inspires students to discover who they are and what their contribution is to their school, their community and the world.