Hilltown is a dynamic community. Life within its walls is sensory, complex, growing, connected, and at times, messy. Many elements come together to create Hilltown’s distinctive culture, our way of being, and more importantly, our way of doing. Various external and internal forces have changed and molded our vision and practices over time, some in predictable ways, some not, yet somehow Hilltown remains distinct.

The students at Hilltown learn how to learn: how to question, how to research, how to analyze, how to be successful working alone and as a team. We believe critical thinking, independent judgment, and problem solving strategies are at least as important to our students’ future success as getting the right answers. We assess using on-going observation by teachers and parents, and through the various tests, rubrics, and competency levels that are part of our program. Our students, on the whole, demonstrate strong academic performance. Our innovative learning environment, by engaging students in their learning process, is fertile ground for academic as well as social growth. Multi-age education, an emergent curriculum approach, and integration of the expressive arts in the classroom are all important to our success.

We view learning as a journey. Students are encouraged to ask questions and chart their own course to discovery. Along the way they gain confidence, and just as important, become committed to the learning process. The healthy tension between this emergent curriculum (that emphasizes process) and the Massachusetts Frameworks (that emphasize outcomes) creates a rich classroom experience. With increased external requirements and our own need for direct instruction, we have adapted the emergent curriculum, and now offer emergent projects which honor student ideas, while ensuring that necessary processes and skills are taught.

Topics from the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks are used to identify themes of study and determine content areas. Based on a given topic, teachers pose an initial, open-ended questions. “What do you want to know about ocean animals?” for example. An object (perhaps a fish skeleton) or a presenter (a marine biologist, for example) jumpstarts student discussion and inquiry. Exploration (research, study, experiments, and other activities that come out of this inquiry), typically what the children want to know more about, happens next. This exploration naturally leads to more opportunities for provocation, and the cycle continues.

We also work to help children develop their basic skills in reading, writing, and mathematics. Often, this instruction occurs in the context of teaching a larger theme or concept. Other times, skills are taught directly, and practiced regularly through a variety of curricular projects. We look at students as individuals, and work to meet their needs through a variety of instructional strategies.

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