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| Steve
Kushner, director of studies, and Ellen Wolff,
chair of the curriculum review committee |
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The
Exeter faculty is about to undertake a sweeping
review of the Academy curriculum—a process
that will present a series of exceptional opportunities.
The review will provide members of the Exeter
faculty essential time and resources to assess
their current curricular practice and to enrich
that practice with new ideas. It will allow teachers
to reflect not only on the work they do in their
own classrooms, labs, departments and dorms, but
also to examine the big picture—how the pieces
of the Exeter curriculum fit together and how
students experience it. It will permit them to
explore the world of education beyond Exeter,
and to assess what the Academy community might
learn there.
The
most powerful and subtle teaching results from
students’ experiences of their teachers,
of teachers’ interactions with them and with
their disciplines. Says English Instructor Ellen
Wolff, “Faculty culture is powerful. Teachers
make a curriculum meaningful by how they live
it. This review, and the broad-based faculty engagement
on which it depends, will vitalize our communal
commitment to educating PEA students, ensuring
that the Exeter curriculum realizes its full potential.”
Ellen
will chair the committee leading the review. She
is joined by seven faculty members and Steve Kushner,
Exeter’s director of studies. The committee
will coordinate the activities of seven study
groups, facilitating communication and attending
to the overall vision of the review. Defining
curriculum broadly as “all of the experiences
students have under the guidance of teachers,”
the review will have a wide scope.
Four
of the study groups will look outward—studying
the curricula and pedagogy of other schools, looking
at the experiences of students before they enroll
at the Academy, seeking input from alumni/ae about
their college experiences, and reviewing the current
research on learning styles, teaching practices
and adolescent development. The other three study
groups will focus inward as they map students’
experience of the current curriculum, look at
the implicit, intangible curriculum of school
culture, and analyze the structure of time and
scheduling at the Academy. Individual academic
departments will also undertake self-studies,
working with both the study groups and the curriculum
review committee to synthesize their findings.
The
review is progressing as planned. The object,
according to Ellen Wolff, “is to replicate
in this process the Harkness experience of our
students. The curriculum review offers the distinct
opportunity to turn the faculty into a community
of learners who, in the spirit of the Harkness
classroom, gather together to work on a common
project.”
When
asked why, at this point in Exeter’s history,
the Academy is undertaking a comprehensive curriculum
review, Steve Kushner points out that although
individual departments have engaged in ongoing
reviews, the last comprehensive review of the
Exeter curriculum was completed in 1985—now
sixteen years ago. This places Exeter at the outer
edge of the appropriate time at which to conduct
a review.
In
addition, notes Steve, “There are many changes
happening in the larger educational world. Whereas
junior high schools used to be comprised of grades
seven through nine, some schools have restructured,
transforming themselves into middle schools that
now include only grades six through eight. The
transition point for students who are thinking
about private school is therefore earlier than
it once was.” This restructuring has resulted
in a significant increase in the size of Academy
prep classes since 1985, necessitating a reevaluation
of how this larger and younger group is taught
and what their intellectual and emotional needs
are. Such an increase in the number of first-year
students also has implications for course enrollment
and sequencing, as more PEA students than ever
before are attending Exeter for a full four-year
period.
Moreover,
developments in technology present the Academy
with new possibilities and challenges. The review
will give the Exeter faculty the opportunity to
integrate technology into the curriculum in meaningful,
pedagogically sound ways.
Finally,
notes Steve, “Since 1985, many new teachers
have joined the Exeter faculty. It will be useful
and immensely exciting to tap their expertise.”
An
undertaking of such breadth and depth will not
be inexpensive for the Academy. Since members
of the curriculum review committee and study groups
will need time to complete their work, additional
instructors will be hired to fill in during the
review. In addition, resources for travel, consultants,
summer work and visiting experts will be necessary.
The Academy is currently seeking philanthropic
support from alumni/ae and parents with an interest
in curricular issues to propel this crucial project
forward.
For
Ellen and Steve, the review is an undertaking
worth every bit of energy, and money, invested
in it. “All Exeter teachers want to give
our students the best education we can,”
says Ellen. She continues, “We think this
is a process that will help us do just that, one
that will consider both the whole Academy and
the whole student and which can help the entire
Exeter community flourish.”
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