From Karan Merry, Head of School:

The many tangible achievements of our students are built on the intangible ingredients of a St. Paul’s education: the individual relationships with our students that are nurtured, day after day, by teachers, specialists, staff, and parents. What follows is a description of the underlying foundation of how we teach: know the child, understand the brain, collaborate with others, create a healthy classroom, and provide a meaningful assessment. Please feel free to engage our remarkable teachers in conversation about their educational approaches.

Life in the classroom is never dull. As I walked the halls last semester, I caught a glimpse of the results of this approach to education: a creative classroom. Second graders role-played pioneer life in a cross-curriculum unit, third graders produced Asian folktales in Readers’ Theater, fourth graders proudly read their writings in the Author’s Chair, and sixth graders prepared for their third Oral Proficiency Exam in Spanish by practicing ordering in a restaurant.

Dr. Stanley Greenspan, a founder of the Zero to Three Foundation, has observed that children learn in the context of relationships. To be known and understood by teachers and family is the foundation of intellectual and emotional development.

What a casual observer may see in a St. Paul’s classroom is a fourth grader in the Author’s Chair. What we know is that this fourth grader has been prepared to sit in the Author’s Chair through weeks of reading, writing, and presentation assignments tailored for that student’s individual learning style – and that this teacher’s approach is supported by discussions with division heads, Teacher Research Group projects, workshops by the California Association of Independent Schools, and other professional development training.

This individualized approach makes for rich experiences, from third graders working with Berkeley Repertory actors to eighth graders solving geometric proofs, from first graders building models of the human respiratory system to sixth graders creating their own civilizations, from kindergarteners observing hissing cockroaches at the Lawrence Hall of Science to seventh graders writing essays about hair and fifth graders writing flight diaries about travel to distant lands.

As part of tracking the progress of each student, teachers meet regularly with the director of the Lower School or Middle School, grade-level partner teachers, Spanish, art, music and physical education teachers, Educational Care learning specialists, the Chaplain, Bay Area Teacher Training Institute interns, and parents.

Teachers also meet in committees to talk about learning differences, technology integration, and cross-curriculum and cross-grade projects. To further explore areas of practice, teachers may join the St. Paul's Teacher Research Group, which provides a formal structure for researching curriculum and teaching.

Brains are uniquely wired in how they learn. St. Paul's teachers use the All Kinds of Minds and Schools Attuned programs to understand and address the wide variety of student learning styles.

Each of us has a way of learning that is most productive. By using Schools Attuned methods to evaluate and understand each student's interests and brain function strengths, St. Paul's teachers formulate strategies that allow students to thrive.

St. Paul's teachers use the Responsive Classroom approach to create a safe community where children feel free to explore new ideas and ways of being. In 2010, thanks to a generous grant, the School enhanced the social curriculum by beginning a three-year collaboration with No Bully, a San Francisco anti-bullying program.

Backed by independent evidence of its effectiveness, Responsive Classroom is based on the core belief that all children want to learn. Morning meeting, collective rule-setting, logical consequences, and positive teacher language give students a sense of ownership and pride in their classroom community. In addition, teachers draw on the expertise of the No Bully staff, the book Schools Where Everyone Belongs, and the Connected and Respected curriculum, developed by Educators for Social Responsibility.

Ongoing student assessment at St. Paul's, both formal and informal, allows teachers to offer accelerated curriculum for students eager to move ahead. The process also ensures that teachers can quickly address individual gaps in organization or understanding.

We focus on all aspects of student work—effort, risk-taking, comprehension, and critical thinking. Parent-teacher conferences are held twice per year, and teachers as well as division directors are always available to discuss individual student progress. No letter grades are given to students in kindergarten through fifth grade. Instead, written progress reports are sent home twice a year.

Sixth graders and Middle School students receive letter grades each quarter and written evaluations following the second and fourth quarters. Every spring, nationally normed standardized tests are administered school-wide to students in grades three through eight.