The School at Columbia was the inspiration of Columbia University Provost Jonathan Cole, who wanted to offer recruits with young families an assured top-level education for their children. Cole, a sociologist, was interested in what the intellectual and social outcome would be of having professors from a wide variety of disciplines share in an elementary school community.
In 1998, Cole hired Gardner Dunnan, headmaster of the Dalton School for 23 years, to consider how his vision could be achieved using a lab school model. In March 2000, the Columbia University Board of Trustees unanimously approved moving forward to create a school for children under the sponsorship and direction of the university. In response to community concern, the plan grew to encompass children in districts three and five who would be chosen by lottery to enhance neighborhood school options while avoiding skimming desirable students from the public school pool.
When The School opened fall of 2003 for grades K-4, it had an admissions policy that made it one of the most diverse independent schools in the country; a spiraling, concept-driven curriculum; and an international faculty drawn by the diverse student body and the resources of the university. The School’s new facility, considered by Columbia University its most technologically advanced, featured a Smartboard in nearly every room and wireless Internet access throughout the building.
Today, home to nearly 500 children in grades K-8, The School attracts visitors from as far away as Singapore and Australia who come to study its approach to concept-based differentiated teaching and the integration of educational technology.
