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New Heights Preparatory School
By Gregory Dern
New Heights Preparatory School is a grade 6 through 12 college preparatory school located in Northridge. New Heights Prep offers students a progressive education with a constructivist approach to learning. We have built ten new classrooms and added area for sports facilities this past summer. Enrollment is open and we look forward to taking your calls at 818. 993. 3800. And you can visit us at www.NewHeightsPrep.org.
New Heights Preparatory School, its faculty and staff are absolutely committed to preparing all of our students for the intellectual, social, and moral challenges that they will face in college and beyond.
Central to this mission are the following objectives:
To imbue our students with a sense of wonder and curiosity about the world in which we live, as well the virtues of responsibility, tolerance, and compassion towards its diverse inhabitants.
To instill in our students the belief that they are capable of achieving almost any goal, as long as they are willing to truly commit themselves to its accomplishment.
To develop in our students the qualities of mind, body and spirit, as well as the specific skills necessary for academic and life success.
Inherent in this mission is our belief that each child is talented and special, and that our most important role as educators is the development of these unique gifts so as to assist every student to realize his or her maximum human potential.
Like our forebears, Crossroads and New Roads Schools, New Heights Preparatory School was founded upon five central commitments, originally set forth by NHPS co-founder, Dr. Paul F. Cummins. These five commitments, which constitute the pillars upon which our school community is built, are: to academic excellence; to the arts; to the greater community; to the development of a student population of social, economic, and racial diversity; and to the development of each student's physical well being and full human potential.
Furthermore, we recognize that there are many kinds of intelligences and many kinds of learners. While the importance of the traditional verbal-linguistic and math-logic skills by which students have been historically assessed in schools cannot be understated, there are other important areas of human intelligence that have been either neglected or ignored. These other intelligences include intuition, imagination, artistic creativity, physical expression and performance, sensitivity to others and natural surroundings, as well as self-understanding. To dismiss any of these areas is to hinder students in the realization of their maximum human potential.
Academic Excellence
As our commitment to academic excellence suggests, students at New Heights Prep pursue a rigorous, college-preparatory curriculum, comprised of the classes required to gain admission into even the most selective colleges and universities. In every academic subject, New Heights Prep's high school graduation requirements meet or exceed those necessary to apply to four-year colleges and universities.
The Arts
We believe that the arts are an essential part of any academic curriculum. The arts enrich our lives, and they activate senses and skills which are too often neglected by traditional educational systems. We feel that is critically important for students to express themselves creatively and use their imagination freely. Therefore, music, drama, visual arts, film, creative writing, and dance occupy a significant part of the New Heights Prep curriculum.
The Greater Community
We believe that it is the responsibility of every educated person to contribute towards the betterment of his or her community. As a part of our human development program, and connected to our Core/Humanities, Science, and Arts curricula, New Heights Prep students participate in community service projects intended to give something back to our surrounding community. In addition, student-led clubs and groups often take part in additional service projects relevant to their particular subject of interest.
Diversity
While New Heights Prep eschews the use of racially-based quotas and other contrived devices, we believe that it is imperative to prepare our students to be successful actors on the increasingly diverse and multi-cultural stage that is America. As such, we strive towards a school community that is reflective of the greater community of which we are a part -- Los Angeles. At the same time, we are committed to maintaining high standards, educationally as well as in our admission and hiring standards. Most importantly, we see these principles as complementary, as opposed to competing, ideals.
Human Development and Health
Students at New Heights Prep participate in a comprehensive human development programs that addresses: physical fitness, nutrition, and overall health; issues of character and integrity; as well as academic and college counseling.
Children, Chores and Praise
By Janet Nusbaum
Praise is an essential part of offering regular encouragement to a child who would otherwise find the task of household chores undesirable. It also helps remind children that their contributions to the household are appreciated and a necessary component to its functionality.
Young children respond especially well to verbal praise, as it contributes to their sense of self-worth. Small children desire to be valued by the grown-ups in their lives and will often repeat behavior that leads to praise for positively contributing to their environment. I remember the days when my daughters pretended to be vacuuming with their toy vacuum cleaner right along side of me as I vacuumed. A few simple, encouraging words that validate their efforts around the house can go a long way in building self-confidence, a sense of community and inviting them to repeat the behavior.
Be careful however - praising a child to an extreme can be counterproductive. For the past few decades, parents have gone to extremes with excessive praise toward their children. This method can have an underlying message that a child has to look externally to a parent or adult for validation. A more productive and lasting method of praise emphasizes:
- The behavior the child exhibited while completing a chore, rather than the result. Rather than saying "great job cleaning up your room", which doesn't give your child much information to repeat the desired behavior, instead say, "you really worked hard to make your bed. I appreciate your effort."
- The actions your child exhibits. An important element of learning at any age and skill level is to feel valued as an individual with unique talents and strengths. When my daughter was learning to make her bed, I found every opportunity to praise her efforts. As a result, she has developed strength through the basic actions of cleaning up her room.
Praise children for doing household chores in a fun and engaging manner. Review with your child the steps that it took to do the chore, all the while congratulating and complimenting him for his efforts. This method reinforces for a child the importance of the chore's process and the effort it took to complete it.
Praising efforts rather than results can also instill a sense of cooperativeness and teamwork in your children - both of which are essential as they grow to be functional parts of society. Whether parents realize it or not, the praise that they give children after completing a chore can indirectly effect how children approach and handle interpersonal relationships in the future. The lessons learned from chores while younger, including the value of helpfulness and cooperation, can lead to successful relationships and satisfactory personal lives down the road.
Keep in mind that children, especially when learning new chores, are not likely to perform the chore to an adult's standard. But just like you, they have to start somewhere. Parents should be generous with praise and understand that instruction may need to be repeated until the child performs to his highest ability or the chore is done correctly.
So the next time your child performs his assigned household chores consider the lessons to your child and don't be afraid to tell him how proud you are of his efforts, behavior and accomplishments. Your praise can contribute to the next phrase of their personal development and help smooth their road to
adulthood.