Little Red School House
and Elisabeth Irwin High School

A Pre-K-12 Progressive Education

About

Mission & Progressive Principles

Mission Statement

A leader in progressive education since 1921, LREI teaches children to be independent thinkers who work together to solve complex problems. Students graduate from our diverse community as active participants in our democratic society, with the creativity, integrity, and courage to bring meaningful change to the world.

Approved by the Board of Trustees, October 6, 2014

At LREI, learning is active and experiential.

We provide a rich and challenging progressive program for bright, inquisitive students who bring a range of abilities and interests to their collective study of the world.

Our school is a community built on understanding and respect for others. Like New York City, this community is diverse in every sense, with a variety of family structures and beliefs, as well as other, more familiar definitions of diversity (racial, ethnic, socio-economic, religious). Our interdisciplinary curriculum and school-wide social justice initiatives promote understanding of many cultures.

As individual achievement is encouraged and rewarded, our program underscores the value of shared goals and cooperation in mastering difficult tasks. By the time LREI students graduate, they are ready to make their marks on their university campuses because they have learned to be active citizens in their school, city and global communities.

Students graduate from our diverse community as active participants in our democratic society.

- LREI Mission Statement

Diversity Statement

Since 1921, LREI’s commitment to social justice, equity and activism has ensured that every community member has access to the full LREI experience.

Our 14-year program explores, celebrates, and encourages differences and commonalities, and the challenges and opportunities they present. We view these efforts as integral to the personal and intellectual growth of each member of our school.

LREI is committed to each of its community members, each of whom has a responsibility to both the community and to the wider world. This is as important now as it was when LREI was founded.

Approved by the Board of Trustees, May 31, 2012

At LREI, our diversity is our strength and community is our foundation.

Diversity, equity, and social justice are alive in our community and in our curriculum. We are an inclusive school that celebrates the unique identities of all our students, family members, faculty, staff and neighbors. Together, we encourage each other to talk openly about the differences around us as we support ways to address social inequities.

Our dedication to diversity and our dedication to social justice go hand in hand. As Elisabeth Irwin wrote, “The foundations of democracy and of our school are built by daily habits of recognizing the rights of those who differ from ourselves.” LREI offers community members opportunities to engage in conversations that matter to all through parent forums, parent and student affinity groups, consultants, the curriculum and student-led dialogues.

The foundations of democracy and of our school are built by daily habits of recognizing the rights of those who differ from ourselves.

- Elisabeth Irwin, founder of LREI

Why Progressive?

We pride ourselves on being a progressive pre-K through twelfth grade school. But what do we mean by progressive education? And why is it so important?

Active & Interdisciplinary

LREI’s students are active participants in each class, each day — making connections between disciplines, using the arts to find creative solutions and struggling together towards new truths.
Inquiry-Based

Learning focuses on finding collaborative solutions to real-world problems. We believe that there is much to learn on the journey to the solution. Our students take their learning out into the community in order to understand the world as it is, not as it’s written about.
Interested in the Whole Child

We care about what kids know, who they are and who they will become. We provide young people with the capacity not only for intellectual achievement, but also for "the art of happy and productive living."
Committed to Social Justice

Our diverse community values equity in race, ethnicity, gender, religion, sexual orientation, socioeconomic means and family structure.

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Simply put, progressive education works with a child’s natural inquisitiveness and desire to do, to experiment and to be involved. Progressive education asks students to truly understand a topic and to demonstrate and to defend their understanding. It asks them to think beyond the page, beyond the “right answer.”

There has never been a more critical time for critical thinkers. When answers can be Googled in the tap of a finger or click of a mouse, asking the right questions is what counts. Living by core values is what counts. Our progressive program equips students with the confidence to discern fact from slant, and to contribute to society in a meaningful way.

One practice that is grounded in our progressive principles is the field trip, an approach to learning that was pioneered at LREI. Through the trip, we seek to take learning out into the world and to then bring the world into the classroom to deepen and enrich the learning experience. As Agnes De Lima explains in The Little Red School House:

[Our] curriculum is built around the children’s explorations of the world and the intellectual and emotional stimulation that comes from contact with the living book of everyday life. . . . We have attempted to tear down the walls of the classroom and bring the child into direct contact with the community. . . . Their trips not only cause them to have an understanding of people but give them the stimulus to do something about it.