50 years of Progressive Education

by Emily Marston

This radical philosophy (at least for the United States public school system) promoted classrooms carefully arranged to provide a variety of wide-ranging activities designed to motivate and promote learning in a variety of ways. This dynamic view of how a child learns best sought to avoid relying too heavily on activities which require every child to learn the same thing at the same time. Meeting children where they are and supporting their growth are key to this approach.

Another major emphasis, according to the Prospectus published in December of 1970, was providing continuing opportunities for each child to become “ecology-trained.” The founders’ plans for The Philadelphia School included a building in the city and a farm in the country to facilitate learning about urban issues, as well as the fundamentals of environmental literacy and sustainability.

In addition to serving the needs of its students and their parents, TPS would serve the needs of the Philadelphia community as a model for all schools, both public and private, in promoting experiential learning. Learning by doing, tackling real world problems, understanding the interconnectedness of disciplines, and embracing learning as a community became hallmarks of the educational experience at TPS that the founders sought to share with the city.

Over the span of fifty years, this vision of integrated learning, entwining urban and environmental literacy, has developed and matured to include flexible grade groupings, thematic learning and project work, robust outdoor experiences, and an emphasis on social justice. In the following pages, we will look at how the educational model at TPS is articulated at each stage in a child’s journey and what has changed over the years and what remains the same.