In a guest opinion essay for the New York Times entitled “What Most American Schools Do Wrong.” Dr. Adam Grant, an organizational psychologist at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, writes, “Most parents see the benefit of keeping their kids with the same coaches in sports and music for more than a year. Yet the American education system fails to do this with teachers, the most important coaches of all.”

Though the American education system is failing to reap the benefits of “looping” — allowing teachers of core subjects to work with the same student for two or more years —  Oak Knoll is ahead of the curve. Looping is a crucial element in all aspects of our Lower School schedule from grades one to six.

Topics: education, elementary school, learners, social and emotional learning, building confidence, growth mindset, academics

One of the things that I have loved most about my twenty-five years in independent school admissions is watching new students and their families fall in love with their new school. Of course, families and applicants do their research beforehand, talk to current families, and ask many questions to get to know and trust a school throughout the admission process before ever deciding to enroll. More often, though, their experience as a member of their new school inevitably turns out to be even better than they ever could have imagined!

Topics: education, independent catholic school summit nj, private school

It is not surprising that the tuition page on many private school websites has a large “bounce” or exit rate. Private schools provide a high value education, customized curriculum, signature experiences, and individualized attention—which has led to annual tuition fees that can seem daunting to many.

Many families believe in the value proposition of private school, and may even have the means to afford 40-60% of tuition but never apply thinking their household income, while too little to pay full tuition, is too high to qualify for aid. These families are unaware how valuable they might be to the private school community and the incentive a school might have to meet them part-way.

Topics: education, admissions, private school, tuition

Rhetoric. For many it sounds like a negative word. And yes, rhetoric can be used to persuade people to do very bad things. But on the flip side, Mr. Ben Oxford’s 11^th grade AP Literature and Composition students are learning that rhetoric can often be deployed in very good and nuanced ways to bring about positive change.

Though Mr. Oxford applies rhetorical analysis to many of his students projects, during Black History Month, he is asking his students to break down some famous works by Martin Luther King Jr.

Topics: education, reading, academics, podcast, Black History Month

It seems that school’s have been teaching the sciences in a certain order dating back to the launching of Sputnik and the cold war period, but Oak Knoll has decided to re-order that sequence in a way that makes more sense for students of today. We sat down with Upper School science teacher Jeff Yuhas to learn the rationale behind this decision. Mr. Yuhas also explains the benefits of teaching science in an all-girls school.

Topics: teaching, education, all-girls, STEM, science, building confidence, academics, podcast

New York City Schools have just blocked access to ChatGPT for all students and faculty. If you aren’t a technical person, you may be asking, “What’s ChatGPT?” If you are a tech person, skim over the next paragraph because you’ve probably been hearing about nothing but ChatGPT since last November when it was released.

Topics: technology, robots, engineering, teaching, education, computer science, high school, parenting, internet safety, academics, writing skills, Artificial Intelligence

Oak Knoll School of the Holy Child in Summit, NJ, will be actively participating in Computer Science Education Week from December 5-11, 2022, with daily coding and computing activities across all grade levels. Parents and caregivers can reinforce these in-school activities with assignments at home. Here are some suggestions and some helpful web resources.

Topics: technology, robots, engineering, education, computer science, STEM, Math, elementary school, project-based learning, activities with kids, steam, family

"No matter what field you're in–whether you're a scientist, a philosopher, or a linguist–whoever tells the best story is going to win. When I'm competing with all the other people, if I can make my case more clearly, and more persuasively, and actually more entertaining than anybody else, then I'm going to win that argument," says Lisa Levchuck, Upper School English Teacher at Oak Knoll.  She is extolling the importance of writing skills and a skilled writer's power to persuade. 

In this episode of The Happy Kids Project we learn about The Writing Center at Oak Knoll–a truly distinctive peer to peer service in the Upper School. Oak Knoll's Writing Center provides a unique opportunity for middle and high school students to take on leadership roles while supporting their peers. Hear how the Writing Center increases student confidence, leadership skills, and academic excellence in a safe and supportive space.

Topics: education, Summit NJ, building confidence, growth mindset, academics, podcast, leadership, writing skills

Pre-kindergarten students at Oak Knoll School of the Holy Child in Summit, New Jersey, are immersed in hands-on learning. Through our method of teaching, students actively engage in real-world projects, which leads to competent thinking, better management skills and understanding of complex problems.

Topics: engineering, teaching, education, STEM, classroom, elementary school, coeducation, kindergarten ready, growth mindset, pre-K, academics

There are a variety of strategies a single-sex school can employ to capitalize on an all-girls environment and provide an array of opportunities for students to grow in confidence and hone their leadership skills. Running for office on a student-council may seem an obvious choice, but not all students have that comfort level. Oak Knoll deploys the following strategies to ensure that all students can explore leadership (whether with a lower case “l” or an upper case “L”) throughout their Middle and Upper School years.

Topics: education, all-girls, high school, independent catholic school summit nj, middle school, success skills, building confidence, leadership