• Merriam's Foundations
• Merriam's Curriculum
• Merriam's Policies, Rules, and Regulations
• The Merriam Community
• Keeping up to date

Merriam's Foundations

"The 'thinking society' of the twenty-first century can no longer be content with graduates trained to take in and recycle information handed out by teachers and other authority figures. Today's students must be taught to think for themselves and to generate new information. But you cannot say: 'We will lecture to you about how to be creative, and then we will measure your creativity with this multiple-choice test.' We need a whole new approach to designing and running schools." (Smart Schools, Smart Kids: Why Do Some Schools Work? by Edward B. Fiske)

Merriam's philosophical foundations are what make Merriam a special school. A great deal of deliberation, discussion, and debate went into crafting these foundations, which are explained below and put into action every school day:

• A Little History
• Our Mission and Vision Statements
• Our Core Values
• The Structures and Strategies we use for implementation
• Decision Making at Merriam

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Merriam's Curriculum

The Merriam School operates on a set of educational principles that have been developed over years of discussion and practice. You can learn about these foundational principles through the Foundations section of this web site and also through the Merriam School Handbook which is available through the Office.

What we teach in the classroom derives directly from these foundations in conjunction with the curriculum requirements of the Acton Public School System. In particular, we base our curriculum on themes - Communication is the theme for this year - and on projects:

• Summary of Merriam's Curriculum
• Examples of Merriam's Project-Based learning
• Acton's Science and Social Studies Curriculum

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Merriam's Policies, Rules, and Regulations

Every parent should be aware of Merriam's policies, rules, and regulations (e.g., dealing with absences, standards of conduct, etc.) as well as those of the Acton Public Schools. These are explained and listed in the Rules, policies, and regulations section of this site. (Return to top.)

The Merriam Community

Merriam enjoys a very active community of parents, staff, faculty, and students. Check out the Community page for a list of organizations, activities, and events associated with our school. And get involved! (Return to top.)

Keeping up to date

Merriam offers a host of special events and activities throughout the year. In addition, there are a variety of meetings through which the community can participate with the school You can find out about what types of events, activieties, and meetings are coming up, as well as details about when and where in the calendar section of this web site. (Return to top.)

Return to the Merriam School Home Page.