Our commitment to the Coalition of Essential Schools Common Principles drives our educational philosophy. This enables us to create a school that has high expectations, shared accountability, is student-centered, and uses performance-based assessment to measure what students learn.

As a founding member school of the New York Performance Standards Consortium, our belief in mastery based learning, development of habits of mind, performance assessment, personalization and equity drive our curriculum and programs. Vanguard students fulfill graduation requirements and graduate by demonstrating their knowledge in a series of four portfolio presentations to graduation committee in lieu of all New York State Regents Exams save for one exam in English Language Arts.

In this process, students deepen their understanding of Habits of Work: punctuality, organization, cooperation, revision and focus. While courses at Vanguard all cover unique content, one thing is similar throughout. This is the focus on developing students’ “Habits of Mind.”

Using Evidence:

How well does the student use evidence to support his/her opinions or conclusions?

Considering Viewpoints:

Does the student consider other points of view?

Making Connections:

Can the students make connections between different topics, areas and courses?

Seeking Significance:

Is the student able to see the relevance of our studies?

Punctuality:

We must arrive on time.

Organization:

We must have what we need, know where it is, and know what we have to do.

Focus:

We must try to participate, listen actively, and ask questions.

Cooperation:

We must help ourselves and others to learn.

Revision:

We must see our work as a process whereby we review, correct, share with peers, and finalize.