Art Works!

Funded by a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation, Dennie Palmer Wolf, of Harvard's PACE edited a series of books, Moving Middle Schools, that focused on schools that are able to demand rigorous academic standards of excellence from its students. New School Preparatory was featured as a model school to show the power of the arts to enhance learning in the content areas in middle school. The New School chapter, "Going up to Harlem" shows how excellence in learning can be articulated, expected, and achieved.

New School students conducted an intense, in-depth study of the decade between 1920-1930 in Harlem, New York. Their studies focused on the history of America during this time and the fascinating history of our country that led to the "Harlem Renaissance."

To bring the period of history to life students researched the world events that influenced the leaders, thinkers, poets, musicians and artists of the time. The students wrote and published a book that defined the period. At the same time they created a program of art, poetry, song and dance of the Harlem Renaissance that was presented at the Orange County Historical Museum.