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Mount Tamalpais School seeks to provide students with a solid academic foundation and to foster genuine enthusiasm for lifelong learning. The departmentalized curriculum focuses on fundamental academic skills and provides an enriched curriculum implemented by teachers who specialize in their particular areas of expertise. In addition to the core academic subjects, students are involved in the study of French, Spanish, and Latin languages, Art and Art History, Music, Dance, Drama, Technology, Research and Study Skills. Character development with an emphasis on values is
interwoven throughout the curriculum. In addition, great emphasis is placed on the moral, emotional, social and physical development of each child. Most classes meet in small instructional groups that promote interaction and collaborative learning while fostering problem-solving skills and opportunities for discussion. The school's extensive Physical Education program addresses the age-appropriate physical development of each student in classes which meet five or more times per week in Grades K-5 and a minimum of three times a week in Grades 6-8.
Students change classes during the school day, giving them freedom, motion, time for socialization, and a chance to 'switch gears' as they change their area of focus. Flexibility within the schedule provides for a number of double-block classes; teachers also cooperate with each other to trade time if needed in order to accommodate special projects or activities.
Our curriculum is spiraling, with information, skills, and concepts cycled through the grades at progressively higher levels. In the lower grades, for example, the reading skills of association, comprehension, and inference are designed to include the study of characterization, style, setting, plot and theme in the middle and upper grades. The literature program, which utilizes the study of classic and recent literary works through all grade levels, provides a format to develop specific skills in the lower grades, which leads students to derive more abstract relationships in the upper grades. The writing process, integrated throughout the curriculum, incorporates pre-writing, writing, editing and revising throughout the grades, with greater emphasis on analysis, synthesis and evaluation in the upper grades. The math program focuses
initially on concepts, computation, and problem solving through the use of manipulative materials in the primary and middle grades, with more abstraction in the upper grades.
Methodology is both traditional and innovative, more conservatively creative than experimental, but with  ongoing attention paid to innovations in materials and techniques that are based on established research. The program includes a balance of independent, cooperative, "hands on" discovery-based learning and the integration of technology within the curriculum. Teachers are committed to meeting the individual needs of their students, and they adapt approach, content, methodology and materials to accommodate different
learning styles. Professional development funds enable teachers to attend workshops and conferences in order to stay current with educational research, theory, and practice. MTS encourages diversity in teaching styles by providing opportunities for faculty to exchange ideas, discuss and apply professional development experiences, collaborate with peers, meet with colleagues, visit other schools, utilize prep time to develop lessons, participate in curriculum design and review, and select instructional materials.
Our Kindergarten program is developmental, and students are placed according to their social, emotional and intellectual maturity, thereby ensuring their ultimate success. Our students enjoy changing classes, and they benefit greatly from the diversity of the program and their experience working with several teachers. Because of the criteria for placement in our program, and the high interest levels generated by departmentalization, our students' progress enables them to excel in many areas and to succeed with acclaim in a variety of independent secondary schools. Many of our graduates are placed in honors courses or in advanced placement classes in their respective high schools.
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