The Miami Valley School

[EduCativ]

The Miami Valley School, as we know it on Denise Drive, started in 1964 after nearly a decade on Munger Road, then known as the "Marti School." VMS' history is rich with teachers and programs that empower passionately inquisitive students to make a difference in the world. Political leaders, Broadway performers, nationally-recognized comedians, award-winning actors, entrepreneurs, global thinkers, CEOs, scientists, industry leaders… to name a few.
At The Miami Valley School, we are independent in our teaching and learning and thinking and doing. For 50 years, our students have enjoyed the freedom to explore their world in a community that encourages them to discover how to express themselves in it. Although we adhere to a demanding scholarship built on a foundation of integrity and grit, teachers here do more than prepare students to score well on a standardized test someday. They empower students to live life to the fullest every day, discover their true passion and purpose, and then pursue it with emotional and intellectual rigor responsibly.
The Miami Valley School challenges young people of promise to become self-sustaining learners and compassionate global citizens. For half a century, VMS has provided a unique learning option for families in the Dayton, Ohio community. Today, VMS is refining a truly differentiated educational opportunity as it becomes a nationally recognized leader in academically rigorous, experience-based learning.
At The Miami Valley School, our overarching goal is to give all of our students the tools to become self-sustaining and self-evolving learners, capable of successfully navigating their future in a time of rapid global change, and confident in challenging themselves to grow personally, ethically, professionally, socially, and emotionally throughout their lives. They exhibit the tenacity and grit of the new American entrepreneur: the desire to face challenges, take advantage of opportunities, understand the nature of positive risk-taking, and manage ambiguity with the knowledge that they have the tools and personal resilience to deal with both success and failure. We intentionally practice design thinking strategies in the classroom and in the process of leading the school to ensure that our pursuit of learning always remains open to the possibilities of the next great idea. We acknowledge that every student learns differently, and we aspire to create a program where instruction is differentiated for our students every day.
Our lofty learning goals are achieved through a bold, intentional framework that sets The Miami Valley School apart. The Miami Valley School Immersion Method is based on the knowledge that learning is rooted in direct experience, which leads to engagement and the discovery of passion by each student. Everything we do at The Miami Valley School is carefully sculpted to create a community of student and adult learners supported in pursuing their passions. Students and teachers will increasingly collaborate as co-learners in a fluid, dynamic learning-centric relationship. We recognize that this kind of learning, for both children and adults, comes at a cost…the cost of being wrong, of taking a risk, testing new ideas, and failing. We embrace the role of risk and failure in the learning process for both students and adults and are dedicated to balancing the lessons of success and failure in our life pursuits.
While academic excellence is best achieved through a balanced exposure to the arts, humanities, science, and physical wellness, we know that the most rapid changes taking place in the world around us are in science, technology, and engineering. Although we place no greater weight on exposing our students to the applied sciences, we recognize that these disciplines will evolve most rapidly in the next ten years. VMS is dedicated to creating a science, technology, engineering, and math program that leverages partnerships and internships in the Dayton community and beyond to ensure that our students are fully prepared to participate in learning and professional opportunities in these rapidly evolving fields.
Youth is a time to find and grow our roots, sense of self, and the foundation upon which to build a happy and healthy life approach. By forming strong personal relationships and creating curricular and extracurricular opportunities for students to become active participants and leaders in their school community, students at The Miami Valley School learn to celebrate their individuality and the culture of something larger than themselves. Because teachers share a close learning relationship with students ranging from ages 3-18, we can build a unique learning experience progression. We construct that experience and, in fact, our school's framework around unifying interdisciplinary themes that transcend traditional boundaries of subject or grade level.
Our vision of the future at The Miami Valley School is profound and challenging. It requires the sustaining support and focused resources of the entire VMS community. We hire teachers who embrace the defining ethos of The Miami Valley School Immersion Method, give our faculty the professional development and assessment resources to implement this vision for our students, and support them as they evolve the curriculum to stay current with the changes in our world. Our use and development of physical space and the time we spend at school must amplify our learning goals, not constrain them. Financial resources must be prioritized, and a culture of philanthropy advanced to achieve our desired results. Perhaps most importantly, the collegial connections that make our school happy, productive, and forward-looking will break down what separates us...across grade level, division, subject, student, teacher, parent, community...and build up what unites us: implementation of our collective vision.

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