<p>I am a parent interested in learning how the teachers interact with students at Roxbury. In particular if they use the Harkness Table or if the approach is the typical lecture.</p>
<p>Roxbury Latin has small classes with much class participation; some classes have seats in rows and lines; others have seats in circles; the teachers expect and encourage kids to interact during and outside classes, some more than others </p>
<p>I’m not sure what you mean by a “typical lecture”; in our experience none fit that description</p>
<p>perhaps you could explain a bit more what you are interested in?</p>
<p>Kei</p>
<p>Hi Kei, thanks for your reply. I am curious how instruction is delivered at Roxbury so I can compare with other schools. If there are many different approaches what are the drivers? Does it differ by teacher? Or by disciplines or departments? Or?? Which succeeds and which falls below expectations?</p>
<p>Moreover, what are your assessment of the faculty who teach? How are the administrators who are not teaching? My overall interest is gauging quality of teaching. </p>
<p>Thanks,</p>
<p>Exsrch</p>
<p>Your questions might be outside my ability to answer, because they seem to concentrate on teaching style, which is lots of class interaction: discussion of texts, critical examination of the material. That’s how instruction is delivered.</p>
<p>The “drivers” are more philosophical and center around high expectations. Students will work hard; will do their best; will participate in class; will treat each other respectfully; will respond positively to challenges.</p>
<p>It’s a small school; I think virtually every professional teaches an academic subject (e.g., headmaster teaches english) and virtually all also coach sports.</p>
<p>The review of students includes their moral development (e.g., how they treat others) and includes virtually all adults on campus, (e.g., support staff and groundskeepers.)</p>
<p>Haven’t had a clinker of a teacher yet. Did have some difficulty around the issue of “tracking” in a core subject and child’s desire to move to a higher level class, but that was resolved due to the guidance from another teacher and child’s taking extra classes during the summer.</p>
<p>If you’re asking if they have traditional “Paper Chase”-style lectures the answer is no. </p>
<p>I’m not sure I’ve helped you, but that’s what it is.</p>
<p>Kei</p>
<p>Thanks again Kei. Indeed your perspective will be helpful as it give me a strong data point from someone in the know. I’ll look forward to other perspectives and also your continued comments. Thanks again.</p>
<p>Most private schools will have similar classroom atmospheres. What Kei-o-lei wrote could easily describe another private school–in fact, it matches perfectly the boarding school I went to and a different one my sister is now attending. At any private day/boarding school, most classes will be driven by student discussions. Teachers will expect all kids to have done the homework thoroughly and participate actively. Classes will be small, the number of students ranging from 1 to 15 at most in my experience. The teachers will be supportive academically and otherwise, probably with a faculty member assigned to you for general support. The “report card” comments on not only the student’s academic performance but also his growth as a person.</p>
<p>(So I guess the conclusion is I don’t quite know what differentiates RL from others… Sorry I couldn’t be of more help.)</p>
<p>Thanks Spark for your comment. As a prospective parent my assessment so far is that Roxbury produces great results however it isn’t very clear how they do it. To your point it appears many top boarding schools/day schools teach in similar fashion but other programs do not produce the results that match Roxbury’s matriculation percentages (e.g. percentage of graduating class attending top schools).</p>
<p>The differences might be curriculum based or culture based (Or ???). Indeed it might be influenced by college advising having a great relationship with Harvard alone - this dramatically influences the percentage of students matriculating at top schools, from Roxbury, as the number of graduates was 50 and the number joining harvard last year amounted to 20% of the graduating class.</p>
<p>We come full circle to my original question about the differentiated teaching approach at Roxbury (if there is one). That’ll help me determine fit and whether it makes sense for my son. Who know it could be the focus on turning out great humans but would like to hear other perspectives from parents, alumni and students. Thanks again for your thoughts.</p>
<p>Well, I think there are 6 reasons why RL has such great matriculation results, only one of which relates to OP’s curriculum inquiry:</p>
<p>1 - need-blind admissions; it has the endowment, alumni and parent support to make sure that every accepted student can attend form every economic class
2 - low tuition; this makes it more affordable for the upper middle class and removes a potential barrier to RL-type kids competing for admission
3 - very high academic expectations; kids will work hard and study hard there
4 - the cultural expectations of, at its root, being polite and respectful to others; letting the students and parents know that their “little princes” will be taught humility and moral behavior along with the academic subjects
5 - it tends to pick kids who are driven to excell
6 - long standing relationships with colleges where RL has for decades sent successful, high quality students </p>
<p>Add them up: it can select the brightest kids with exceptional drive, educate them in the best manner (as other schools do), teach them them to be better humans, then help them find and select an historically high quality college that fits them well.</p>
<p>Kei</p>
<p>How many classes do students take at Roxbury? I read their catalog and it seems with physical education the students take 6 to 7? Not sure but that seems far more rigorous than the 5 to 6 most other schools require.</p>
<p>Plus if Latin is required are modern languages required also? This might explain the added level of rigor as compared to other schools.</p>
<p>Let’s also not ignore the fact that quite a few RL kids have family connections to the Ivies as well.
The general mode of instruction is fairly similar at all the good prep schools.
I do not believe that RL kids take a heavier load in terms of classes than other rigorous schools. Physical education/sports are not always counted in the same way at all schools.
Look at the website to find out about language requirements.</p>
<p>Thanks for your thoughts NEMOM. The Roxbury website isn’t very clear nor detail enough to determine number of classes or what modern languages are required in addition to Classics or I just simply missed it. Do you have kids who are or have attended Roxbury?</p>
<p>The modern language requirement at RL is either three years (8th to 10th grade) of a modern language (french or spanish), or two years of that language (8th and 9th) and two years of ancient greek (10th and 11th). This goes along with the three year Latin requirement (7th to 9th). All students at RL take 5 major classes each year. In 7th through 10th grade, there is one other class, first its PE, then some art classes, that you also take. These are light courses, they don’t matter at all, and have very minimal homework. So, there aren’t more classes than at other schools.</p>
<p>As to your initial question, I agree with everything that has been said. One more thing I want to point out is that RL pays its faculty better than any other school in the ISL. Between this and needs-blind admission and keeping tuition low, you essentially have a school investing more into bringing in talented people than most other schools. I think the culture that focuses on character education is a major factor. I think the school’s small size and the expectation that both students and teachers will participate broadly in all aspects of school life helps to foster that culture. And I think there is value in the classical curriculum, its builds off of itself well over the years and compliments the character education as well. Like most people have said, there really is no specific teaching approach. I thinks its the culture, the curriculum, and the quality of the students and teachers that makes RL distinctive.</p>
<p>By the way, no one within the school community calls it “Roxbury.” Its either Roxbury Latin, The Roxbury Latin School, RL, or if you’re feeling particularly proud, the one true school. Its obviously not a problem , but I just figured Id’ tell you.</p>
<p>I’m a senior at RL, by the way.</p>
<p>Hey Tots, thanks for the clarification as it was very helpful. If my son enters the 9th grade would he attend Latin with the 7th graders? Or would he take a lower Latin with the 9th graders? He currently has limited experience in Latin. </p>
<p>Thanks for your response.</p>
<p>One thing I’ve also noticed is that unlike boarding schools RL appears to connect with parents closely and I should say proactively given what I’ve read on the website. This proactive engagement obviously is difficult at BS although they make every effort to push news to parents to keep them aware. Could this be another advantage?</p>
<p>Additionally, although other schools provide the same attention to academics and building character RL seeks to instill these benefits on 50 graduates per year whereas other schools have to work with a larger population. Could this be another advantage?</p>
<p>All the new freshmen take latin together as both freshmen and sophomores. Actually, what I said before about the requirements is for seventh graders. new ninth graders are required to take two years of latin and two years of a modern language, or one year of a modern language and two years of greek. We had one kid in our class who was like your son, he already had some experience with latin. He was put in the class with the sophomores who had been new freshmen (who were therefore in their second year of latin), and the following year was moved to the classes with the rest of his classmates who had come in seventh grade. Now, they do have upper and lower levels of latin in 8th and 9th grade for the kids who came in seventh grade, and if your son was capable of going straight into the lowest section of returning freshmen, that would probably be what the school would prefer. But I don’t know if your son would be ready for that.</p>
<p>RL’s size is definitely an advantage. I don’t know about the proactive engagement between the school and the parents.</p>
<p>Notable as RL’s Ivy matriculation is, I wouldn’t consider it a primary reason to attend. The boys that go there are all very smart, very hard working, and often have family connections with the Ivies, particularly Harvard. RL (which is mostly what I hear folks call it) also has a very definite culture, which doesn’t suit all boys, so you really must visit and , more importantly, have your son visit.
I don’t have a son there, but we did consider it.
I’m glad that they still offer Greek - it’s a wonderful thing to learn.
As Latin has become more popular lately in area middle schools, I imagine RL has made ways for kids with appropriate skills to take an upper section. That said, unless he is really interested in Latin, he might do well to just start as the others do. Lower/middle school Latin often goes very slowly compared to high school.</p>
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<p>Hi Kei, Spark, Tot and Nemom,</p>
<p>Thanks for all of your comments and thoughts, regarding RL, as it was extremely helpful. We will definitely include a visit and most likely apply and hope for the best as it appears our chances are slim. Thanks again for all of your inputs.</p>