Teachers and students work together in decentralized open pods. A variety of integrated learning activities occur at the same time. Children move independently throughout the day and work in intensely engaging knowledge work centers.
Teachers facilitate whole group and small group work providing feedback and coaching.
Everyone holds a commitment to lifelong learning. Teachers provide successively and increasingly complex learning experiences, which develop student capacity to problem-solve. Teachers continue to grow professionally through collegial planning, reflection, and watching each other work. As students move from kindergarten through fifth grade they tackle new experiences with confidence and independence. At the heart of the Dutrow learning community is the belief that students must be actively engaged in order to construct meaning from their work.