Ethical Culture Fieldston School

For more than 135 years, the Ethical Culture Fieldston School has been committed to excellence in education as it seeks to develop the intellectual, artistic, and moral potential of its students. ECFS serves approximately 1,700 students and 325 faculty and staff in four divisions: Ethical Culture; Fieldston Lower; Fieldston Middle; and Fieldston Upper. Ethical Culture is located in midtown Manhattan, on Central Park West, in a six-story, turn-of-the-century school building; the other divisions share an 18-acre campus in the Riverdale section of the Bronx.

Through an academic program that is demanding, rigorous, and thorough, we encourage our students to challenge themselves in innovative ways so they can reach their highest potential in mind, body, and spirit. We approach education in an interdisciplinary, experiential, and collaborative way, helping our students develop a lifelong passion for learning and an understanding of its relevance beyond the classroom. As ethical learning provides the foundation of all that we do, we emphasize our students’ moral development and guide them towards service and social justice. The admirable successes of our graduates in a wide range of fields—from the arts to the sciences, from business to public service—and their contributions to society attest to the promise of ECFS realized.

Felix Adler’s educational vision is as important today as it was when the Ethical Culture Fieldston School was founded in 1878. To continue to realize that vision, we embrace the following ideals:

• Ethical Learning: The exploration of what it means to be an ethical and responsible member of society forms the core of our curriculum and our school community. We value inclusion as well as economic and racial diversity. We honor all of our students for their unique contributions, cultural background, and beliefs. As we consider service to be critical to the development of character, we incorporate community service into the children’s school experience from the earliest grades.
• Academic Excellence: Our school achieves academic excellence by challenging students to reach their highest potential in body, mind, and spirit through the humanities, the sciences, the arts, and physical education. The students become active learners and engage in vital discourse in a community of dedicated teachers and an atmosphere of intellectual discipline and creativity.
• Progressive Education: Through a curriculum rooted in the tenets of progressive education, students become independent thinkers as they learn that asking their own questions and seeking their own answers provides the key to the deepest kind of understanding. Cooperative, student-centered, discussion-based learning and the freedom to make mistakes are part of our students’ everyday lives.

With an enduring commitment to excellence in progressive education, we inspire a diverse and joyful community of passionate learners, critical thinkers, and ethical individuals who aim to make the world more humane and just. Aware of the impact of technology on the earth and the people who occupy it, our technology department is striving to make ethical technology purchases for the 2,000+ members of our community. In addition to sustainable IT practices, we support faculty, staff, and students in utilizing technology tools in ways that are driven by purpose, used with intention, and aligned with ECFS's ethical imperative.

At ECFS, we recognize and celebrate the importance of critical thinking and inquiry in addition to the acquisition of knowledge; learning-by-doing at every stage of development; and the engagement and collaboration of teachers and students in the creation and innovation of a rich learning program. We seek to ensure that our school exemplifies the best of progressive education in the 21st century, serving as a national model and demonstrating our preeminence as a leader in this educational field in an increasingly global, interconnected world.