Our Mission
The mission of the National Center for Independent School Renewal is to serve as a network for the sharing of best practices and innovative thinking among independent schools committed to continual renewal.
Our Purpose
Our primary purpose is to support schools by fostering collaboration among educators and schools by offering affordable, teacher-led professional development opportunities. These opportunities encourage teaching and learning practices that promote engaged, active learning among students within democratic learning communities.
NCISR is a membership organization dedicated to providing opportunities for collaboration among independent schools in the following ways:
- Create networks for independent schools interested in reflection, collaboration, and innovation.
- Provide forums for teachers that facilitate information sharing and peer feedback
- Foster emergence of professional learning communities within schools
- Connect individual renewal efforts among independent schools
- Empower students to explore and promote ownership and responsibility in their learning experience
- Facilitate opportunities for students to develop the leadership skills required in our global community
- Provide resources for teacher development to improve student performance and assessment
- Facilitate teacher engagement in whole school improvement
- Offer conferences, small-group gatherings, and school exchanges
Our History
The National Center for Independent School Renewal is a growing association of schools seriously committed to the work of renewal and innovation through a new and powerful model of professional development.
Established in September 1998, NCISR is a not-for-profit organization. The idea for the Center originated in a collaboration of administrators and teachers of five independent schools who were inspired by Ted Sizer and the Coalition of Essential Schools. The work taught them the power of creating mutually-supporting collegial relationships among teachers both within each school and among several schools.
With initial funding from the Klingenstein Fund and the Arthur Vining Davis Foundation, the Center is now supported by membership dues and grants. NCISR is run by an Executive Director and small staff, a fifteen-member Board of Directors, and a growing membership of more than twenty schools.
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• On April 26th School One will host a spring meeting entitled: “Thinking about Thinking: How do we teach students to assess their own learning, think about their own thinking, and improve their work based on what they see?”
• NCISR Board of Directors met on Friday, February 5th in Boston
• Fran Stoffer of Watkinson School attended one of Brimmer and May’s “Learning Walks” focusing on the three Rs: Rigor, Relevance, and Relationship
• Newton Montessori has joined the Northeast Cluster |
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