The Ella Baker School is currently situated in District 2 and is located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan at the Julia Richman Education Complex. This pre-kindergarten to eighth grade school serves a population of approximately 290 students in the 2008-2009 school year from culturally diverse backgrounds. The school was founded in 1996 by former teachers and administration from Central Park East Elementary School. Ella Baker was founded on the principles of progressive education. In addition, we collaborate with the Vince Bervetti Network. Since its inception, the Ella Baker School has been committed to child-centered, experienced-based curriculum, where children devote time to the exploration of ideas by using materials and developing extensive projects. Our
community values the importance of making choices, working collaboratively and planning curriculum that meet the interests, needs, and learning styles of all children. Our multi-age classes offer children, with a wide range of abilities, the opportunity to work together, to develop intellectually, socially, and emotionally over two years with the same teacher.

The Ella Baker community is committed to building the confidence of each child. We do this by enhancing our curriculum with the interests and needs of our children. We help them to connect and explore their ideas in a deeper, more meaningful way, while immersed in inquiry and problem solving. During Work Time, children have the opportunity to make choices and reflect on materials and the methods to using them. Children educated in this way become aware of the world around them and are thoughtful, caring, kind and tolerant members of their communities. We have developed a partnership with Sarah Lawrence professor, Mary Hebron, who acts as our professional development consultant and resource archivist. She supports our school’s philosophy with ongoing teacher reflections and refinements about classroom practice.

The Ella Baker School has termed this: Philosophy Meets Practice. This has been a very rewarding and important relationship because it helps support teachers’ professional growth, and it keeps us grounded in our basic beliefs about children and the parent community we serve. In addition, our school has a variety of supplemental programs, in school and afterschool, which enhance our curriculum and provide experiences and exposure to our students.



This can entail academic tutorials, sports, fieldtrips, and programs in the arts. These include:

• Arts Experiences in drama, dance, fine arts, architecture, multi-media, Film Making poetry, music; and ongoing collaborations with arts organizations such as The Joyce Theater, The New York Collegium, The Salvadori Architecture Program

• Boys and Girls Harbor Instrumental Workshop

• Recorder and Percussion Instruction

• Interschool Orchestras (ISO) – afterschool individual orchestral music instruction

• Student Chorus

• Weekly classroom trips: museums, parks, gardens, ice skating, swimming, NYC cultural events; libraries, Clearpool Education Center in upstate NY

• Everybody Wins! -Reading Buddies

• Christadoro Foundation for Environmental Science

• New York University, Susan Kirsch, Science Research Grant

• Student Council

• Middle School- yoga, basketball and soccer teams