The Carnegie Report (1989), recommends that schools for early adolescents be organized around "small communities for learning, where stable, close, mutually respectful relationships with adults and peers are considered fundamental for intellectual growth. A key element for these communities are houses, students and teachers grouped together as teams."
Simon Baruch is designed to promote academic excellence and establish within staff and students a feeling of belonging and a sense of personal identification with the school and its purpose. To accomplish this our school consists of:
- Grades 6 through 8
- A lower students population than other large, competitive, zoned middle schools
- "Houses" within the school and within each grade, to promote a feeling of family and to reduce the feeling of anonymity among students
- Teacher teams sharing responsibility for education and personal development of a common group of students
- Schedules with blocks of time and common planning periods, to foster interdisciplinary programs and creative use of time
- Advisory periods where students can informally examine, explore and discuss topics relevant to middle schoolers