Meaningful and Relevant
We believe that high school students should do work that really matters – both to the students themselves and to the world.
It is in wrestling with important questions that our students come to take themselves seriously as thinkers and problem solvers. Engagement with critical problems ultimately leads to meaningful reflection and self-knowledge, as students discover not just what inspires them, but how they can connect their passions to the work they do in high school and for the rest of their lives.
Meaningful, relevant work happens every day at The New School – in the classroom, as part of community-based projects, and in dozens of other ways.
AP US History students walk the streets of downtown, examining the lasting effects of Atlanta’s 1906 Race Massacre, and have class on the last surviving earthwork from the Civil War.
Biology students plant and harvest vegetables in the TNS garden to support families in metro Atlanta who are facing food insecurity.
Students in every grade travel to the Okefenokee Swamp to learn first-hand about the environmental issues facing the Swamp, talking to local residents and experts from non-profits and state and federal government agencies, and then engage in conversation with state-wide leaders about its future.
We love it when we hear “Why do I have to learn this?” It’s a question every student has asked themselves at some point in their education. At The New School, more often than not, our answer is, “Because it matters. Because it’s important. Let me show you how.”
Click HERE to view a typical 9th grade student schedule.
Meaningful, relevant work happens every day at The New School – in the classroom, as part of community-based projects, and in dozens of other ways.
Engaged with the Community
We believe that the classroom should extend beyond the four walls of the school and encompass the entire community.
Atlanta is a vital city in constant flux, one that is increasingly a launching pad for the ideas of the future. We’re committed to using the city as our classroom, leveraging the physical environment, the creative class, and the resources of the community to enrich our students’ learning and to give them a sense of how they can be change-makers in their city and their world.
When we engage the community across all aspects of high school, we radically reinvent the role at the center of learning: that of the teacher.
Most people look back at the times of profound learning in their lives and realize that those moments didn’t often happen with a classroom teacher. In addition to their incredible classroom teachers, TNS students will learn from close to 100 other adults every year as part of their experience at The New School: artists, entrepreneurs, and community activists who visit the school to work with students; professors and grad students at Emory, Georgia Tech, and Georgia State; business leaders and computer programmers; world famous actors and environmental visionaries. These are the experiences that stick with young people, that inspire them, that make them eager to launch themselves out into the world.
When we engage the community across all aspects of high school, we radically reinvent the role at the center of learning: that of the teacher.
Entrepreneurial
Learning to empathize, seeing problems as opportunities, mastering the test, reflect, and revise innovation process, and developing grit will enable our students to excel in whatever path they chose in life.
We teach and instill these critical habits of mind, known as the entrepreneurial mindset, through project and collaborative real-world work, the entrepreneurship program, internships and mentorship programs.
In 9th and 10th grade, our students practice prototyping, testing and reflecting, and investigating the world through independent research and innovation projects. By doing work that is used in the real world by companies and nonprofits, or exhibited in public forums and pitch events to experts and community members, our students learn to stick with it to the end and develop grit.
The project series introduces students to the skills they’ll hone in their Junior year as part of our year-long Entrepreneurship Program, with an Entrepreneur-in-Residence, when every students gets to start their own business and see what it takes to take an idea and make it a reality.
In their Senior year, TNS students work in year-long internships at local businesses, exploring their passions and experiencing working with adults who share their commitment. Whether at non-profits like Habitat for Humanity and Planned Parenthood, arts organizations like Horizon Theatre and the Atlanta Opera, research labs at Emory University and Georgia State, or dozen of other businesses, TNS internships are a capstone experience for our seniors that instill in them greater confidence and maturity as they prepare for college and beyond.
By doing work that is used in the real world by companies and nonprofits, or exhibited in public forums and pitch events to experts and community members, our students learn vital stages of project management and the importance of grit.
Rigorous, Demanding, and College Preparatory
At TNS, we teach a rigorous college preparatory curriculum that rivals that of the finest schools in the country.
More than that, the intense project-oriented learning that our students undertake requires them to develop the skills and habits of mind that are essential to success in higher education and the ever-changing workplace of the future.
Let’s start with Math. Math is a sticking point for many students, and lack of help in the classroom is often cited as a core reason. At TNS, we believe in teaching math in small group workshops, where time for 1-on-1 help is a priority. It works: most of our students now take three AP math courses before they graduate, and leave high school with confidence in their math abilities, regardless of where started from.
Same with English. Many of our students are prepared to take AP English Language in 11th grade and AP English Literature in 12th. These challenging and rewarding courses provide an excellent opportunity for students to hone the invaluable skill of writing.
A demanding academic curriculum should also be fun! Our teachers have very high expectations of our students (expectations that they routinely exceed, by the way). But they also love to teach young people, and are passionate about their subjects. The results? High school students are inspired to do their best and push themselves to places we haven’t even imagined.