Thomas Elementary

Thomas Elementary utilizes the physical, intellectual, and aesthetic disciplines of music, movement, and art to furnish multiple points of entry into core academic content and create alternate gateways to understanding, communication, and possibility for all students, especially those who might not thrive in a traditional school setting.  The program provides high-level fine and performing arts training for students at every level of development, bringing together a cross-section of our community’s diverse ethnic, economic and cultural populations in a focused community designed to provide intellectual challenge, disciplined development of creative skills, and a cohesive school culture accessible to all students.  

Thomas Elementary’s program design creates a cohesive pedagogical environment within which effective learning is consistently supported by all aspects of the school’s organization for the benefit of all members of the learning community.  Key elements of this program design are embodied in Thomas Elementary integrated learning strategies, its small size, its schoolwide culture, its multifaceted faculty team, its unique use of facilities, and its fiscal and governance priorities.  The overriding aim for the students, faculty, families and community of Thomas Elementary is the individual and communal realization of the purposes set forth in the Thomas Elementary mission, vision and goals.  The implementation of these schoolwide purposes is at the heart of all Thomas Elementary pedagogical and organizational pursuits.

Thomas Elementary’s learning structure and pedagogical approach proceed from the belief that all students, including those at educational disadvantage, learn best from instruction that is accelerated rather than remediative, reflecting high-level thinking and content for learners at all levels.  ‘Acceleration’ has two levels of meaning in the context of presenting learning experiences:  the first is rapid pacing, also known as curriculum compacting.  The second, more significant level, is rapid movement from knowledge and comprehension toward analytical, creative, and critical thinking (analysis, synthesis, and evaluation).  Thomas Elementary acceleration for all students is delivered not through expanded workload or faster pacing, but rather within a range parallel learning experiences providing increased depth and complexity, and through content enrichment.

Thomas Elementary’s instructional objective is powerful literacy in all subjects, as set forth by Patrick J. Finn in Literacy With an Attitude: Educating Working-Class Children in Their Own Self-Interest.  Rooted in the pioneering research of Paulo Freire, the concept of ‘powerful literacy’ – which includes the concepts of powerful ‘numeracy’ and scientific literacy – requires that teachers, parents and students “understand the relationships between society, culture, language, and schooling,” (xii) in order to distinguish between the ‘functional literacy’ of a domesticating education and the goal of a ‘powerful literacy’ that can expand political and sociological horizons.  

By encouraging students’ innate tendency to question, developing their ability to reason critically, and educating them to communicate through explicit, context-independent language, Thomas Elementary provides all learners with access to the linguistic, intellectual, and creative skills needed to be full participants in the communities of academic, artistic and political discourse.  Consistent interaction with parent/guardians regarding student progress in all academic and arts pursuits explicitly invites families into the same discourse and actively supports their participation.