Welcome to Touchstone Community School. Touchstone was founded in 1982
by parents and educators who knew that children learn best when they are respected as individuals and actively engaged in their own learning. Their vision of a school where children are engaged, empowered and inspired was cutting edge then, and today is a model for progressive education.
What skills will children entering Kindergarten today need when they exit college? Rapidly changing expectations means children need to learn to be creative and flexible in their thinking; they need to learn how to learn; they need to be able to work in a diverse world.
The following five principles guide our work at Touchstone as we prepare children for their future.
The skills and strategies of literacy, mathematics, social and physical sciences, and the arts are taught in an integrated manner that enables students to engage deeply in the content and processes of learning.
We encourage students to engage actively in their learning in order to create meaning. Students interact with each other and their environment in both concrete and abstract ways. They are encouraged to take initiative and make authentic choices in the active pursuit of knowledge.
We empower teachers to develop meaningful curriculum and methods of assessment consistent with the school’s commitment to excellence in developmental teaching practice.
We believe that education must be transformative and that the educational process should reveal to all students both their unique qualities and capabilities as individuals and their responsibility to put their uniqueness to work for the good of society and the earth. We value the range of diversity found within the social world – from individual learning styles, to differing family structures, to the varieties of cultural expression.
We cherish and seek to build on the inherent motivation for learning that children bring from home to school. Teachers, parents, and staff share their respective knowledge of the child and view each other as partners in the child’s educational development. In addition, the generous and active involvement of many community members in volunteer roles sustains and develops this educational community.
We invite you to come see Touchstone in action. Take a tour, come to an Open House, chat with our teachers and parents. Come learn what a Touchstone education could mean for your child.
Welcome to Touchstone!
Head of School
Susan joined Touchstone Community School in 2011. She comes to us from the Atrium School in Watertown, MA, where she served as Co-Director. In addition to her administrative skills, Susan also brings classroom experience having taught most recently at the Winsor School, Cambridge Friends School, and the Atrium School. Susan is strongly committed to progressive education, both as an educator and as an administrator.
To connect with Susan via email, use the contact form on the Contact Us page.