The Valley School’s
Principles and Practices
A Message for All of Us Who Care about the Education
of our Children and the Legacy of The Valley School
June, 2009
In keeping with the words of our founding fathers, the Valley School is dedicated to the proposition that all children are created equal in their right to an unfettered start in life through a good education. Our mission, then, is to provide the very best experience possible for every single child who comes our way.
We believe that childhood is sacrosanct. At some level, each child is born into this world with a pure, perfect essence. Each is distinct and unique, for a child is a child is a child.
Society has changed, but children have not. Demands placed on children to perform academically at earlier and earlier ages are not only inappropriate but have no correlation to later academic success. Valley School honors the proven developmental stages of childhood and does not impose superficially accelerated academic expectations on young children. In keeping with these precepts, we do not test for admittance to this school.
A diverse student body—ethnic, academic, economic—is our goal because we think it to be the healthiest setting for young children. Within this rich, inclusive atmosphere the teachers work collegially to help every child grow to full capacity in all areas of development: cognitive, creative, social-emotional, language and physical. In other words, they see the whole child. Leslie Bennett, noted British educator, stated in a summer workshop in Neskowin, Oregon in the summer of 1981, “The child brings the whole of himself to a study. Every creative response is devoted to that thing. The adult who retains that unity is well-educated.”
Children are complicated creatures, and deserve our best efforts. Each one has strengths and challenges. It is our work as educators to discern the strengths and concentrate on them as we bring the child along. Always let us look for and hold on to the positives within each student as we interact respectfully. Believe in every child.
The opportunity to witness growth, usually gradual, sometimes dramatic, is one of the fundamental joys of teaching. If our children stay long enough to give us the full opportunity of time with the complete cooperation of all adults involved, we can accomplish almost anything.
Not surprisingly most Valley School children finish our fifth grade as strong students, full of themselves and ready for the next stage in their schooling. They do not hesitate to express their ideas and are not afraid to make mistakes. They strive to do their best not because they are test or grade-driven or that they fear failure, but rather because they simply love to learn, to do and to expand their horizons. At the same time, middle school educators report to us that our graduates look after one another, as they have previously at Valley.
We accomplish all this by our recognition of the general stages of cognitive development which tend to coincide with the succession of grade levels. Ever conscious of the school’s commitment to basic skill acquisition, teachers move their students through the school’s curricular stream while noting individual learning styles and academic differences. Wise educators “go with the flow” with their students. They challenge the very able at their level as well as help children who are moving along more slowly. When students are ready, teachers expose them to the next challenge. With a solid foundation and confident outlook, their charges can make quantum leaps, but again, all in due time. The mantra is: know when to do it, and then do it well.
Our responsibility is to be vigilant in observing progress or the lack thereof. We should ever question why we are doing what we are doing. We should always evaluate, be aware, never sit back and slide through our days. Teaching is hard, often exhausting, but well worth the effort. With inspired work, we strive to move our students to higher and higher levels of achievement and understanding. This, however, requires intellectual curiosity and willingness on our part to move our own cognitive standards continually forward.
Students pick up on our passions and interests. When we are well versed in a particular subject (whether it be dinosaurs or the Civil War), we can bring the children up to extraordinary levels of comprehension. Intellectual excitement is infectious. On the other hand, when we do not know much about a topic, if we put ourselves alongside the students to learn together, they love this collegiality and invariably rise to the occasion. This, too, breeds enthusiasm.
So far we have outlined the role of teachers educating children in a proactive manner. But there is another equally important way by which children learn, and that is, in John Dewey’s words, “learning by doing.” With young children this all-important activity is usually referred to as “play.” Here children take the lead and their teachers, while still planning the learning environment, act more as facilitators. Play can take many forms and changes as children mature, but it will always involve choice of activity and creative exploration. Over the years, educators have told us that play is the young child’s work. In a television interview in June, 2009, Andrew Meltzoff, co-director of the University of Washington Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences, stated, “Play is extremely, extremely important for young children.”
For students of all ages, learning by doing or play should be pleasurable, creative, yet challenging or they will find something else to do. This free choice activity enables the child to be fully engaged with the project, whether real or imaginary, because of the whole body and mind involvement. Experiential learning often involves cooperation with others which brings self-restraint, cooperation and language into the social picture. Our challenge should be to integrate more learning by doing into the daily curriculum at the elementary level where it would hold equal standing to the typically traditional teacher-directed approach to learning.
Finally, an explanation of our commitment to the social and emotional well-being of our children is in order. Growth in this area goes in stages, just as in cognitive development. At the pre-primary level it is developmentally appropriate and there is more opportunity to concentrate on social skills. However, every child, no matter his place in the school continuum, deserves to feel that he has a friend; every child deserves to feel that she knows how to get along with her peers. Successful work with children depends on understanding them, accepting them completely and treating them with respect. Educators should bear in mind that most students need to feel comfortable, indeed happy before they can do their best work. It follows then that they should have teachers who are just as able to empower them in this part of their school experience as in the more traditional curriculum.
As board member, David Douglas explained in the Spring 2009 Valley Voice, “I think those of us involved in the school believe the more important aspect of the Valley experience is the development of personal characteristics that can’t be measured easily by tests. Successful people are generally happy, creative, empathetic and cooperative folks who enjoy their personal relationships, the challenges of new experiences and the exploration of differing ideas. These characteristics are valuable in both their personal and professional lives. The individual who sees a challenge as an opportunity to develop new skills and has an ongoing thirst for information and ideas will be successful not only in the work place but also at home with family and friends.”
Perhaps all of this sounds too good to be true. Skeptics wonder if children seem to be so happy here, are they really learning enough to withstand the rigors of current testing standards. Yes, we say; we can do it all. That is our challenge.
The Valley School seems to be standing pretty much alone in Seattle in our approach to education. Indeed we wish there were more schools of like mind to support us. This rather lonely position does not, however, deter us from our conviction that we are on the right course in principle and practice.
A major strength is that we have kept the best of the past as we have moved forward to incorporate new ideas. Sound practice is not “either/or” as is often the case with the swing of the American educational pendulum. This requires continuous evaluation and discussion of current practices and scientific findings in order to build an optimum synthesis. Our goal is always a sensible balance. For in the end, education remains an art not a science.
Papers like this help to remind us of the best of who we are and who we can be. If we take care of the children day by day in the here and now, then we will have built a foundation strong enough to assure the future of our cherished students as well as that of our special institution.
Patricia Overy
Founder, The Valley School
