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Dalton School

The Dalton School, originally called the Children's University School, is a private university-preparatory school on New York City's Upper East Side and a member of both the New York Interschool and the Ivy Preparatory School League. The school is located in three buildings, all in Manhattan: the Middle and High Schools for grades 4–12 are located at 108 East 89th Street; this building is referred to as simply "The Dalton School" or "Big Dalton". Grades K–3 are taught at a different building on 53 East 91st Street; this area is known as "The First Program" or "Little Dalton". The primary center for physical education and sports facilities is the Physical Education Center at 200 East 87th Street.

The Dalton Plan

Inspired by the intellectual ferment at the turn of the century, educational thinkers, such as John Dewey, began to envision a new, progressive, American approach to education. Helen Parkhurst caught the spirit of change and created the Dalton Plan. Aiming to achieve a balance between each child's talents and the needs of the growing American community, Helen Parkhurst created an educational model that captured the progressive spirit of the age. Specifically, she had these objectives: to tailor each student's program to his or her needs, interests, and abilities; to promote both independence and dependability; and to enhance the student's social skills and sense of responsibility toward others. Parkhurst developed a three-part plan that continues to be the structural foundation of a Dalton education: House, Assignment, and Lab.

History

The Dalton School, originally called the Children's University School, was founded by Helen Parkhurst in 1919. It was a time marked by educational reform. Philosophers, teachers, and child psychologists identified as "progressives" began to question the conventional wisdom of the day which held that education was a process of drill and memorization and that the only way to teach was to regiment children in classrooms. Their natural instincts to play, to move, to talk, and to inquire freely were suppressed.

Progressive educators believed that the development of the whole child is of primary importance; that children are social beings and that schools should be communities where they can learn to live with others; that these communities should devote themselves to the total enrichment of mind, body, and spirit.

After experimentation in her own one-room school with Maria Montessori, Helen Parkhurst visited other progressive schools in Europe including Bedales School and its founder and headmaster John Haden Badley in England. She developed what she termed the Dalton Plan which called for teachers and students to work together toward individualized goals. The Laboratory Plan was first put into effect as an experiment in the high school of Dalton, Massachusetts, in 1916. The estate of her benefactor Josephine Porter Boardman, was also near the town of Dalton and from this beginning the Laboratory Plan and school eventually took their names.

In 1919, Helen Parkhurst relocated to New York City, where she opened her first school on West 74th Street. Larger facilities soon became necessary; the Lower School was moved to West 72nd Street, and the High School opened in the autumn of 1929 in the current building at 108 East 89th Street. Eleanor Roosevelt admired the work of Helen Parkhurst and played an important role in expanding the population and resources of the school by promoting a merger between the Todhunter School for girls (founded by Winifred Todhunter) and Dalton in 1939.

Enlarged and modified through the years, Dalton still celebrates many of the school-wide traditions begun by Helen Parkhurst, including the Candle Lighting Ceremony, Greek Festival, and Arch Day.

Recognition

Over the years, the Dalton Plan has been adopted by schools around the world, including schools in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Chile, the Czech Republic, England, Korea, the Netherlands, and Taiwan. There are also three schools founded on the Dalton Plan in Japan. Leading educators from public and private schools and universities, from the United States and abroad, visit Dalton to observe its system of education.

Dalton shares some programs with multiple private schools in Mexico such as the Universidad Iberoamericana, Universidad Anahuac, ITESM and Colegio Anglo Mexicano. 2% of the total students come from Mexico, and 12% are foreign.

College placement

Dalton ranked fifth on the 2003 Worth ranking of graduates matriculating to attend Harvard, Princeton, or Yale.

In 2003, the Wall Street Journal conducted a ranking of secondary schools in the U.S. that sent students to 10 selective colleges — including seven Ivy League schools. Dalton placed eighth. In 2007, another ranking conducted by WSJ produced a list of the top high schools in the nation based solely on each schools' 2007 placement rate of students to Harvard University, Princeton University, MIT, Williams College, Pomona College, Swarthmore College, the University of Chicago, and Johns Hopkins University. Dalton placed 59th out of the 65 high schools in the nation in this ranking.Top twenty enrollment figures from 2003–2007

Admission

Admission to the Dalton School for Kindergarten to third grade is based on school records, ERB testing, and interview. For grades 4–12 admission is based on school records, writing samples, an interview, and standardized testing (Dalton accepts the ISEE test as well as the SSAT test). Candidates receive notification of acceptance, rejection, or wait list in February.

In recent years, the parental anxiety created by the highly competitive admission process has been the subject of repeated press coverage. According to Peterson's, the school year acceptance rate into Dalton for grades K-12 is 14%.

Dalton School buildings

The school offers education from kindergarten through the 12th grade. The building at 108 East 89th Street, nicknamed "Big Dalton", contains grades 4–12, as well as a theater, music and art studios, and administrative space. A separate building, nicknamed "Little Dalton", on 91st Street between Park Avenue and Madison Avenue, has classroom space for the kindergarten and first three grades. Another building, at 87th Street and Third Avenue, contains two gyms and other areas for physical education, including a weight training room and an aerobics room.

Co-curricular activities and athletics

The Daltonian is Dalton's official student newspaper and is published every 2–3 weeks. Dalton students also produce other publications, most notably, the political journal Realpolitik as well as Blue Flag and Macrocosm.

The Dalton School is a part of the Ivy Preparatory School League in athletics. Some teams, such as varsity football, participate in different athletic conferences. Dalton offers 23 varsity teams (including a cheerleading squad) and nine junior varsity teams in the high school athletics program. The school colors are white and blue, and the school's mascot is the tiger.

Dalton also offers many programs in the arts, particularly the visual arts, dance, and theater, and students are encouraged to pursue their interests in addition to their academic curriculum. At least two full-year arts credits are required for graduation, but many students take art all four years.

Notable alumni

Depictions in pop culture

In Manhattan, the character played by Woody Allen is dating a 17-year old (played by Mariel Hemingway) who attends Dalton. The Dalton School sued Woody Allen for the implied pedophilia in this film.
In Coming Soon, the main character attends a school called "Halton" that is obviously based on Dalton.
Short-lived MTV reality show Rich Girls originally depicted Dalton's facade in its opening credits.
In the television show Will & Grace, in an episode in which the two titular characters attempt to conceive a child, Will tells Grace that their child is "already on the waiting list for Dalton".
Both D.E.B.S. and the film version of American Psycho contain the line, "Did you go to Dalton?"
In the movie Baby Boom, Diane Keaton overhears a few young mothers worrying about whether or not their children will be admitted to Dalton.
In the movie Searching for Bobby Fischer, the main character attends Dalton as he did in real life.
On the show Sex and the City, while at a wedding, the main character, Carrie, points out the bride's classmates from Dalton.
In the film version of The Devil Wears Prada, editor Miranda Priestly's twin daughters attend Dalton.
In the television show Gossip Girl, several secondary characters attend Dalton.