The principles that define us

Our academic program is built around ten core tenets of progressive education. Developed by our own faculty and staff, these tenets guide us in all grades and in all areas of our curriculum.

Ethical

We nurture our students’ capacity for morality and empathy, helping provide the framework and knowledge necessary to live an ethical life.

Challenging

At every age, in developmentally appropriate ways, our educational program not only serves our students’ growth as citizens but strengthens their skills as scholars.

Relevant

Our curriculum is never stagnant; our teachers are constantly updating their courses to reflect the most pressing issues of the day.
Ethical Culture students sit at desks and work on animation project together.

Playful

Play and movement are vital to our work at all ages — for us, rigor and laughter go hand in hand.

Inclusive

We seek out new voices, identify hidden assumptions, and reshape our norms accordingly — in order to create a school that truly belongs to all of us.

Responsive

We design courses around the changing needs of students, their reactions to world events, or even surprising new passions they might bring to light.

Empowering

We celebrate the process more than the product — the practices and procedures students master so they can repeat their achievements again and again.
Ethical Culture Fieldston School Middle School students work together to build a wind powered experiment

Experiential

Our entire curriculum is built from the ground up with hands-on, project-based, design-centered approaches. We want our students not just to see, hear, and think but to make, do, and feel.
Ethical Culture student works to shape her clay in art classroom.

Healthy

The health of our students is essential, and we work diligently to ensure a safe physical environment, robust opportunities for movement, and abundant support for social and emotional health.

Interdependent

We live in community, and we recognize the responsibility each of us has to the whole. Our academic program is infused with an insistence that we care for and engage our neighbors, both in and around our campuses.