Head's Welcome
Since 1939, The Center for Early Education has been marked by the greatness of its school community. This Website is an extension of the CEE community. It is filled with information, news, photos and the spirit of campus life. I hope you find it useful and inspiring. And I welcome your suggestions to make it even better.
The Center’s Mission encompasses the philosophy and values that define our school. Read it carefully. In it you will find key words, which we espouse daily in each interaction that takes place between student and teacher, teacher and parent, parents together and within our extended family of grandparents and alumni.
Exemplary Education
At CEE we strive to offer an Early Childhood and Elementary education worthy of being emulated by like-minded families and educators. Our focus is not on the latest instructional bells and whistles but on enduring methods of learning and teaching. We are proud of both our state-of-the-art technology and our focus on the way each student learns best. We may have Smart Boards in every elementary classroom but we also have teachers who can hold a single child’s gaze long enough to be sure she understands long division.
To keep our faculty and staff at the top of their game, The Center offers extensive professional development opportunities, on campus and away at conferences as well as through university course work. Our Curriculum Mapping project tracks desired learning outcomes across subject areas and across grade levels. A math concept taught in second grade will emerge again at a more sophisticated level in fifth grade. The teaching of poetry presents itself in social studies as well as in language arts.
In The Center learning community we are all examples for each other. That is how we teach, how we learn and how we develop an exemplary education.
Supportive, Inclusive and Respectful
We have a very diverse student body. Center families are ethnically diverse, economically diverse and diverse in their personal interests. Learning to be supportive, inclusive and respectful is crucial to our commitment to diversity. In practice those values translate to zero tolerance of bullying and a financial aid program that offers additional funding so that a family may attend ticketed events and enroll in after-school classes.
Lifelong Learning
We take the need for challenging academics as a given in today’s society. Historically our Founders emphasized the development of each child’s self esteem. But over the years we have learned that only the joy of learning and resilience in the face of failure combine to keep an individual open to learning throughout his life. Resilience is the key to finding that joy because no matter how hard the subject, no matter what the grade, the thing that we ultimately learn is how to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and give it our best effort one more time.
Helping Others
Finally I want to point out that, being an urban school, with the city at our doorstep, we have unparalleled opportunities to engage our students and our entire community with those who need us. Community Service and Service Learning loom large at The Center. Whatever we call it – Sandwiches for the Homeless, Holiday Toy Drive, our partnership with Watts Senior Center – ultimately we are teaching and learning how to share that part of us that is naturally generous.
That is our mission. We embrace it, and we hope you find it carried out in this Website and on our campus.
Reveta Bowers
Head of School
En Espanol
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