New Roads School is a college preparatory K-12 private independent school in Santa Monica, CA, serving over 650 school-age children from the greater Los Angeles area. New Roads School provides an inspired educational program from which an authentically diverse student population, mirroring the rich diversity of Los Angeles, develops a personal dedication to learning, a respect for independent thinking, and an expanding curiosity about the world and its people.
New Roads School, as a student speaker at this year's senior graduation pointed out, prepares students for "whatever the situation calls for." We live in a world defined by change and uncertainty. There is too much information to memorize technology that can perform many human beings' functions, and knowledge becomes obsolete quickly. In this context, a profound question calls for an answer: how should we educate our children for this world?
New Roads School is a place that is breathing, always in the process of examining itself to make sure that our educational program will prepare young people to lead productive and fulfilling lives in the future that none of us can honestly imagine. We do this by providing an intellectually challenging and engaging college preparatory program. Each student develops a personal dedication to learning, a respect for independent thinking, and an expanding curiosity about the world and its people. We believe that education must not be a race for the accumulation of facts. However, a joint venture among students, parents, and teachers to develop habits of mind habits of character an ever-expanding awareness of the human situation and the tools needed for effective personal, social, political, and moral participation.
An essential tool of 21st-century education is an authentic experience in a diverse community. Our students do not read about diversity. They live in a community where they interact both inside and outside of class with students and adults whose differences are reflective of Los Angeles and the global community. As Tony Wagner, an expert in residence at Harvard's Innovation Lab and author of The Global Achievement Gap, points out. Students need to collaborate across differences to be prepared for careers, college, and citizenship in the 21st century. From the time our students step onto the campus, they begin to develop this essential capacity. Also, students' critical thinking and problem-solving strategies have in their backpack increase tenfold as a result of learning with diverse students and adults.
None of these benefits can be realized without treating young people with respect and taking them incredibly intellectually. Our founders hypothesized that "if you treat young people with respect, in an environment in which respect is at the very intellectual core of the curriculum and the soul of the institution, they will, in turn, produce good work and accept and respect each other' difference." New Roads, an embodiment of the aspirational promises of America, is nearing its 25th anniversary. Time has tested our founders' hypothesis, and our solution is indisputable. We are still boldly here, preparing students for "whatever the situation calls for."
New Roads School provides an inspired college preparatory program from which an authentically diverse student population, mirroring the rich diversity of Los Angeles, develops a personal dedication to learning, a respect for independent thinking, and an expanding curiosity about the world and its people. We believe that education must not be a race for the accumulation of facts. However, a joint venture among students, parents, and teachers to develop habits of mind, habits of character, an ever-expanding awareness of the human situation, and the tools needed for social, political, and moral participation and personal fulfillment. To be genuinely supportive of young people, teachers and parents must themselves continue to learn to perceive the young accurately and treat them wisely.
Mindful of the ever-changing world, New Roads School acknowledges a continuing need to evaluate these essential skills. We understand that there are many kinds of intelligence. As such, our programs assist young people in developing and appreciating cognition, intuition, imagination, creativity, physical expression and performance, sensitivity to others, self-understanding, and personal well-being. To neglect any of these areas is to limit students in the development of their full human potential. New Roads encourages students to:
- Use innate curiosity, creativity, and imagination to pursue an inquiry and organize and synthesize appropriately complex understandings
- Be willing to take creative, intellectual, and aesthetic risks with both familiar and new information in all areas of study
- Evaluate evidence for its relevance to an inquiry and formulate justifiable solutions
- Appropriately question the authority of history as well as use it to understand the present.
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