What's really different about "progressive" schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here - appreciate all the helpful comments so far. DC is in K at a progressive school and I love it so far, but I'm not sure what the future holds. I feel like there are rumblings of dissatisfaction with the science and math in upper grades and it's unclear how much of that is specific to our school and how much of that is related to the differences in testing and metrics between progressive and traditional. I'm also wondering if it's easier for a kid to 'coast' at a progressive or is that going to happen anywhere if that's what your kid chooses to do?

I think you need to take year by year and see how your child develops as a learner. Be open to the fact that this may not be the best fit until the upper grades. I wasn't certain that the progressive approach was working for my child until 3rd grade.

[Anonymous]

I was searching through the threads and found this fantastic article that describes the differences between traditional and progressive schools. If you haven't seen it already, here it is:

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/10907.page#62059

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was searching through the threads and found this fantastic article that describes the differences between traditional and progressive schools. If you haven't seen it already, here it is:

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/10907.page#62059

Interesting article but not entirely accurate. I'm the PP whose kids went from traditional to progressive and as I wrote before, unlike what this author says, academics aren't that different. At DC's progressive school there are departments, requirements and not a lot of independent study. I also disagree that traditional schools are euro-centric, as this article states. At the traditional school my kids studied literature and history from Asia/Africa/Latin America. Perhaps the article was just dated. I do agree that progressive schools are more concerned with students' emotional development. To me thats the biggest difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was searching through the threads and found this fantastic article that describes the differences between traditional and progressive schools. If you haven't seen it already, here it is:

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/10907.page#62059

Interesting article but not entirely accurate. I'm the PP whose kids went from traditional to progressive and as I wrote before, unlike what this author says, academics aren't that different. At DC's progressive school there are departments, requirements and not a lot of independent study. I also disagree that traditional schools are euro-centric, as this article states. At the traditional school my kids studied literature and history from Asia/Africa/Latin America. Perhaps the article was just dated. I do agree that progressive schools are more concerned with students' emotional development. To me thats the biggest difference.

I don't have much experience in this realm, but when reading the article it made me think of some of the school tours I had done. Westminster seemed to fit the bill exactly for a traditional school (see: http://www.westminsterschool.com/practice_areas/curriculum-objectives--seventh-grade.cfm). A lot of the other schools seemed to be a blend of progressive and traditional with Burgundy Farm being the most progressive of the ones we looked at.