Academic Life

Upper School Overview

The Avenues Upper School, grades nine-12, will have extensive space for individual and small-group work, enabling students to develop as learners by independently delving deep into a subject and demonstrating mastery of it. In the Lower and Middle Schools, students will be offered many opportunities for independent project work. In the Upper School, these opportunities expand with the Avenues Mastery Program, which requires that every student complete an extensive independent project in the field of his or her choosing.

Upper School classroom

From the earliest grades right through the Upper School years, the Avenues curriculum emphasizes communication skills. Thus reading and writing will be fundamental to all course work in the Upper School. English classes will offer a survey of age-appropriate literature from around the world varying in genre and skill level. Moreover, teachers in every discipline will expect their students to write well and frequently.

In the 21st century, math, science and technological skills will be increasingly important. Avenues will offer Advanced Placement coursework in the major scientific disciplines and mathematics. State-of-the-art information technology will be available to support students and provide them access to the full resources of knowledge available online.

One goal is to have every Avenues graduate achieve real fluency in a second language by graduation. “The World School” next to our name underscores our commitment to educating students who will be truly global citizens and feel comfortable in international relations in any field. In the Upper School, students who have demonstrated fluency in either Spanish or Mandarin may continue that study or choose to add another language by following a supervised course of independent study in a wide variety of other languages. Fluency is enhanced through “Avenues Summers,” which allow Middle and Upper School students to study on a different continent each year during summer vacation.

Avenues’ leadership team includes, among others, a former president of Yale and former heads of school of Exeter, Hotchkiss and Dalton, three of the most outstanding preparatory schools in the country. These leaders know that most students will have high college aspirations, and so the Upper School will provide two kinds of advising programs. First, every student will have an advisor who will be the school’s first contact with parents and help the student make good academic choices and plan a course of study to ensure preparation for college. Second, Avenues’ college counseling staff will work to build and maintain the school’s relationship with colleges and universities, advocate with them for Avenues students, and guide students in the college application process.

Avenues is committed to help its students grow into adults who exhibit the traits of honesty, moral strength, tolerance and compassion on which stable societies and a stable world are built. In the 21st century the solution to problems of a global scale will demand educated people with these capacities and values. To this end, Avenues students will be encouraged to participate in a variety of service-learning experiences within the school and in the community. New York offers a rich pallet of these opportunities, and the school will facilitate extensive service-learning engagement.