Academics
At Columbia Grammar & Preparatory School, children achieve their highest ambitions while keeping their spirits intact.
For more than 260 years, we have responded to the needs of bright, curious and intellectually adventurous students. We firmly believe that a balanced education leads to a powerful life and have cultivated a curricular experience that makes that experience possible. Our demanding educational program, from Grammar to Middle to Prep School, nurtures our students' remarkable gifts and passions. The CGPS academic experience is shaped by the bold ideas and inspired practices of our passionate faculty, who carefully and intentionally create curriculum opportunities designed to prepare and inspire our students for the next challenges in their lives. Our classrooms are dynamic, responsive, liberating spaces that encourage exploration, reflection and excellence. CGPS graduates are broad-minded, self-directed and forward-thinking individuals, ready to thrive in a complex, interconnected and accelerating world.
Pre-K–12 Teaching and Learning Philosophies
The Pre-K–12 philosophy statements reflect the foundation of our academic program, describing each discipline's beliefs, values and goals regarding teaching and learning.
- Science
- Mathematics
- English & Literacy
- History & Social Studies
- Technology
- Theater & Dance
- Music
- Visual Arts
- World Languages
- Learning Resource Center
Science
We believe that the study of science is the creative, collaborative and systematic investigation of the natural universe driven by the intrinsic wonder and curiosity within every student. Science is an active process of inquiry, observation, analysis and authentic engagement that provides the evidence on which scientific understanding is built.
We Value
- Scientific wonder, curiosity and creativity
- Meeting every child's needs through diverse and engaging classroom experiences and supportive, collaborative learning environments
- Building a scientific community through reflection, making connections and real-world applications
- An emphasis on the interconnectedness of systems and concepts
We provide opportunities for all students to
- Deeply engage with concepts through the scientific and engineerings design processes in order to understand the world around them
- Pose meaningful and testable questions about the universe
- Gather and analyze data to draw robust conclusions about the world around them
- Gain and apply the scientific practices and knowledge necessary for success in the classroom and beyond
- Authentically collaborate with others in the learning community
Mathematics
We believe that the study of mathematics is a joyful exploration of numerical and geometric patterns in our world and everyone learns best through rich inquiry, discourse and problem-solving.
We Value
We provide opportunities for all students to
- Engage with purposeful questions and collaborate with others to construct personal understanding of ideas and concepts using various tools and models
- Embrace productive struggle and persevere through mistakes
- Identify and articulate mathematical patterns and construct generalizations
- Develop number sense, flexible reasoning and conceptual understand through problem-based experiences
English & Literacy
We believe that time spent with books, poems and stories is time well spent; English and literacy are foundational to all learning; and reading and writing spark the imagination, foster intellectual curiosity and illuminate the human experience.
We Value
- Reading as a lifelong practice full of joy and meaning
- Texts that enrich the mind, cultivate personal growth and encourage critical thinking
- The study of characters, ideas, worlds and cultures that are both familiar and unfamiliar, so that students learn to build empathy, confront assumptions, embrace ambiguity and broaden their worldview
- Using great writing to teach what is stylistically possible and to expand the sophistication of our students' prose
We provide opportunities for all students to
- Encounter reading that both speaks to and expands their interests
- Build reading skills at every level, from phonics to Faulkner
- Discuss books and other texts thoughtfully and craft clear, interesting and well-reasoned arguments about them
- Express their ideas and develop their writing voices — whether in analytical essays, personal responses or creative poems and stories
- Learn from individualized feedback and receive instruction that responds to their learning styles and current needs
- Use the writing process to move their work from brainstorming to rough drafts to polished pieces
History & Social Studies
We believe that the study of history and social studies fosters lifelong intellectual curiosity and engagement through the use of inquiry to cultivate empathetic and responsible global citizenship.
We Value
- The question as much as the answer, the process as much as the product and connections as much as the content
- An exploration of multiple perspectives to build strong communities
- A culturally sustaining practice that affirms students' various backgrounds while providing them with insights into the experiences of others
- Engagement in rigorous learning that promotes flexible thinking and collaboration
- Students as an integral and active part of civil society
We provide opportunities for all students to
- Hone effective and compelling written and verbal communication skills
- Develop critical thinking through the analysis of primary and secondary sources
- Integrate and apply learning across curricula
- Interact with high-quality and developmentally appropriate materials
- Participate in relevant, meaningful and experiential learning tasks
- Take informed action in order to fully participate in civil society
Technology
We believe that the study of technology — through design, fabrication, programming and engineering — advances critical thinking skills that are essential for students to solve complex challenges and become ethical creators and responsible digital citizens.
We Value
- Joyful and supportive environments that foster creativity, curiosity and innovation necessary for lifelong learning
- Diverse perspectives to ensure that technology is ethical, representative and universally accessible
- Collaboration with compassion and respect for all
- A positive, fluid and open-minded approach to problem-solving that encourages intellectual risk-taking, embracing mistakes and developing resilience
We provide opportunities for all students to
- Develop and apply algorithmic thinking, computational thinking and analytical skills through a variety of modalities
- Explore, experiment and take risks, using setbacks as an opportunity to build resilience
- Use the materials and methods of design to express themselves creatively and construct their own understandings
- Evaluate the ethical concerns behind burgeoning technologies while harnessing their own skills to solve real-world challenges
Theater & Dance
We believe that the study of theater and dance is a joyful, collaborative and creative endeavor in which we tell stories from a multitude of perspectives in order to better understand the world around us with compassion and empathy.
We Value
- Practices that are mindful, inclusive, consent-based and sensitive to the needs and experiences of students
- Curiosity and agency in a student-driven creative process
- Process over product
- Verbal and non-verbal communication
- Risk-taking as an avenue for learning to develop resilience
- A holistic approach that embraces opportunities for acting, dance, design, directing, stagecraft and stage management
We provide opportunities for all students to
- Engage meaningfully in the performing art in both a curricular and extracurricular setting
- Build an imaginative, playful and diverse community where multiple ideas coexist and are respected
- Explore the artistic unknown through individual and collective inquiry
- Reflect and grow as an integral part of the creative process
- Cultivate their personal voice
Music
Every human being is capable of profound musical expression. We believe that the study of music offers a unique avenue for self-discovery and encourages human connections rooted in empathy and compassion. Music is a core part of the curriculum.
We Value
- Active, experiential and joyful approaches to developmentally appropriate music-making
- Cultivating safe settings for risk-taking, creativity and curiosity
- All approaches to music-making, inclusive of cultures and genres
- Musical agency, equipping students with the skills to confidently develop personal musicianship and encouraging ongoing growth at all ages and achievement levels
- Upholding our responsibilities to the ensembles with whom we make music through collaboration, support and kindness
We provide opportunities for all students to
- Create music in multiple genres using a variety of methods and techniques
- Perform music in a variety of ensemble types
- Respond to music and develop ways to think critically and speak thoughtfully about it
- Connect their musical experiences to other disciplines, their community, themselves and the broader world
Visual Arts
We believe that a comprehensive, enriching visual arts program is vital for the development and well-being of our students. It provides them with the joy of creative self-expression through hands-on materials and mediums and fosters empathy and a collective understanding of their community and society at large. Creative thinking and visual expression are ways of engaging with the world, and they help prepare students for all types of learning and problem-solving that go well beyond the art studio.
We Value
- A supportive community where all students have access to making art during regularly scheduled periods in a dedicated art studio so learners have adequate time to explore, practice and navigate through the creative process
- Providing a wide range of methods, materials, mediums and subjects that engage each student, giving them the tools to expand their imaginative capacities and nurture their individual expression
- Discovery and diversity of experiences, backgrounds, ways of making art and reflecting on the cultural contributions of a range of artists from different communities, societies and historical periods
We provide opportunities for all students to
- Engage in developmentally appropriate, hands-on art experiences that allow them to build confidence in their abilities to express themselves creatively and think critically regardless of their experience or skill set
- Work in a supportive, encouraging environment where they feel represented, included and validated through their individual artistic expression
- Challenge themselves to think creatively and problem solve so that they build confidence in their abilities to be expressive and creative in a variety of art experiences
- Develop their ability to work both collaboratively and independently (when appropriate) and feel a sense of autonomy and confidence in their work
World Languages
We believe that language exploration allows our students to understand and learn from diverse cultures while bringing them closer to being more caring world citizens.
We Value
We provide opportunities for all students to
- Discover more about themselves and others by learning how to communicate in languages beyond their mother tongues
- Develop resilience by stepping outside of their comfort zones
- Appreciate linguistic and cultural similarities, differences and diversity among people
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Expand their cultural awareness in an interconnected world
Learning Resource Center
We believe that students can make progress toward their academic goals when consistently provided with highly individualized and dynamic support, explicit instruction and remediation.
We Value
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Supportive learning environments that promote a growth mindset surrounding learning differences
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Student exploration and knowledge of their own learning style
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A strategy-based approach to learning
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Ongoing collaboration and professional development with all faculty and staff to support every student
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Equal accessibility and equitable distribution of educational opportunities and resources for all students
We provide opportunities for all students to
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Engage in discussions that increase their knowledge about their strengths and challenges, ability to embrace their individual learning differences and use of effective self-advocacy skills
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Develop, practice and generalize strategies to better understand, recall and retrieve the information they are learning
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Receive explicit instruction in skill sets that remain challenging
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Develop critical thinking and higher-order questioning skills and strategies
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Work toward independent mastery and generalization of all skills and strategies being developed and practiced