The Dalton
Plan
The Dalton Plan is not merely an innovative educational concept, but a practical way of life, fostering freedom, collaboration, and responsibility.
The Dalton Plan is a progressive educational model created by Helen Parkhurst in the 1920s in Dalton, Massachusetts, USA.
The Dalton Plan is based on Parkhurst’s strong belief that whenever children are given responsibility for their learning, they instinctively seek the best way of achieving it and execute their decisions with focus and rigor, leading to success.
Based on this belief, the objectives of the Dalton Plan, as defined by Parkhurst and by The Dalton School in Manhattan, are
- To tailor each student’s program to his or her needs, interests, and abilities;
- To promote both independence and dependability; and
- To enhance the student’s social skills and sense of responsibility toward others.
To achieve these objectives, Parkhurst developed a three-part model which reorganizes education from teacher-centered to more child-centered, transferring critical learning responsibilities from the teacher to the child. These three parts, namely the House, the Assignment, and the Laboratory, form the critical, structural foundation of a Dalton Education. Through these three parts, the teachers and the students work together towards individualized goals that develop the mind, the body, and the spirit.
