EASTSIDE PREPARATORY SCHOOL Kirkland, Washington FOUNDING HEAD JUDY LIGHTFOOT "Intelligence is not just what people are born with, but also how they use what they have." SO … "A good academic program will show students how to use their minds as well as possible."

Curriculum Design by Judy Lightfoot, PhD judylightfoot@earthlink.net In December 2002, Dr. Judy Lightfoot was asked to be the Founding Head of Eastside Preparatory School in Kirkland, Washington. She served as Head of School at Eastside Prep until April 2004. This innovative independent school first opened its doors in September 2003 with 14 students in grades six and seven. Presently, more than 90 students are enrolled in grades six through ten; grade eleven will begin in fall 2007. Founding Eastside Prep gave Lightfoot a chance to combine into a distinctive educational design several of her most important ideas, which she developed over thirty-five years of teaching and consulting, and which derive from her conviction that intelligence is not just what people are born with, but also how they use what they have. Fundamentally, a good academic program will show students how to use their minds as well as possible. Thus: At the core of Eastside Prep's program are instructional principles derived from current research by cognitive scientists, who agree that three factors reliably improve learning: Constructivist teaching - students must draw on their prior knowledge and beliefs in order to build new knowledge. Metacognitive teaching - students need strategically placed opportunities to reflect on their learning. Teaching academic subjects not as collections of content but as systems of inquiry that organize and utilize content - students learn best when they understand that math, science, history, and English are all "power tools for the mind."  In their daily work, teachers at Eastside Prep make these three approaches to learning explicit so that students can work independently with competence and confidence. Besides guiding students, these instructional principles provide a common practical language to teachers of different subjects, enabling an entire faculty to work together effectively on developing, reforming, or mapping the curriculum. Finally, a deliberate emphasis on how learning happens focuses all staff on the minds of individual students and their particular directions of development. To ignite student thinking and facilitate interdisciplinary instruction, Lightfoot organized curriculum content at each grade level around a compelling Big Question: In grade 6, "What is the world made of?" In grade 7, "How did we get here?" In grade 8, "What does it mean to be human?" and in grade 9, "What is the good society?" The ethical foundation of the program is good citizenship, which reinforces classroom practice because democratic debate requires constructivist approaches to learning. That is, effective citizens (like effective students) communicate their ideas in order to use the responses of others, plus research, to change and "grow" those ideas. In addition, the ethic of good citizenship supports a commitment to community service that is also a commitment to hearing what others have to say. As Robert Coles observed, "You can't help people unless you're willing to learn from them." Dr. Lightfoot's program design attracts outstanding faculty to teach at Eastside Prep and makes the educational experience of students unusually cogent and effective. New staff employ and build on the stimulating logic of the program with confidence and success. Today Dr. Lightfoot is again consulting with schools in the U.S. and abroad. In June 2004 she led the English department at Bainbridge Island High School, Washington, to organize its English curriculum for grades 9 and 10 around literary study and writing defined as systems and strategies of inquiry. In November she audited the English program 5-12 at Overlake School in Redmond. Some of her work at other schools is outlined on her consulting page. Resources for effective curriculum design Lightfoot's consulting page Lightfoot's résumé Lightfoot's home page