George and Annemarie Roeper founded The Roeper School on a vision and philosophy forged from their heritage in a family and community of educators and child development experts, and tempered by their experiences in Nazi Germany. Their philosophy has been lived and practiced here for seven decades. It lives today at the core of our life at The Roeper School.

We understand each person, child and adult to be a whole human being, worthy of respect and recognition, deserving every opportunity to fulfill his or her potential. We celebrate each child’s development and achievements without defining the child based on how he or she appears in comparison with others.

We understand diversity as fundamental to the human condition. We value diversity of all kinds — including for example thought and background as well as race and religion — and because we encourage differences, we learn things from one another that we could not learn in a homogenous setting. Diversity and interdependence foster competence as much as compassion, and nurture excellence as much as empathy.

We believe that each person has responsibilities as a member of communities — the family, the school and, ultimately, the world. In our learning community, relationships are important and central. We help each learner find the essential balances between rights and responsibilities. We hope to develop independent thinkers who are constructive and caring within family, school and community.

Our philosophy requires a community in which we live and learn by trusting one another, relying on one another, listening to one another, accepting differences and seeing one another truly as equals. It requires extraordinary teachers who understand that children learn better when they want to know; teachers who empower and encourage each child to be adventurous, to take risks and not to fear failure. It requires a school that not only prepares, but also allows, each child to make meaningful decisions and solve important problems.

On the foundation of this philosophy, we create a safe, rigorous, and joyful learning environment. Here, each student is encouraged to find his or her own voice and to pursue his or her intellectual, artistic, and athletic passions. Each child takes a responsible role in his or her own learning. In this environment, children feel happy, emotionally secure and confident, and they develop into self-motivated learners and critical thinkers who pursue excellence in a way that has meaning for them. They discover their own intellectual, artistic and practical abilities, they find their place within an ever-changing world, and they learn to react in a flexible, clear-minded and intelligent manner to the complexity of modern life.

George and Annemarie Roeper’s vision lives today in our commitment to this philosophy and to the community of learners that it inspires.

Approved by Board of Trustees, June 7, 2010

Philosophy in Practice

The Roeper School educates gifted children from pre-kindergarten through high school. The School is open to all who are qualified regardless of race, creed, color, national or ethnic origin, or disability. We recognize that giftedness is manifested in many ways. Gifted children seek to understand their experiences; they often display great conceptual facility and diverse problem-solving skills. They show a strong desire for fairness and need to be involved in the decisions that relate to their learning. Gifted children feel comfortable creating, examining and collecting information. Roeper recognizes the great variability within individual children and among children. We seek to provide children with a flexible learning environment that allows them to learn and grow in their own individual styles.

The Roeper program is personalized and developmental. It is designed so children develop an understanding of, appreciation for, and control over their learning process as they develop skills, form concepts and define ethical and moral issues. Roeper educates children in the skill of decision-making, which must be learned with other more traditional academic skills and concepts. We provide a school environment where children can participate in decision-making, can become aware of complexities, take risks, and can learn to see themselves as valuable links in the chain of interdependence.

The school educates the whole person, fosters close relationships among students and teachers, and provides opportunities for growth in all areas: academic, moral, creative, emotional, physical and social. The Roeper program enhances intellectual stimulation, nurtures creativity and encourages excellence. Roeper educates gifted children in accordance with the Roeper Philosophy, the central tenet of which is a commitment to justice and human rights. We teach children to see the interdependence of all parts of our communities, from our school community to the world community. We teach children the skills of cooperative action and seek to avoid the traditional overemphasis on confrontation and destructive competition. We teach children to respect individual differences and to recognize the inherent dignity of every human being. We seek a pluralistic community and encourage children not simply to tolerate diversity but to value it. We apply these philosophic and educational principles to our governance process and to our school community.

The Roeper School’s mission is to maximize the whole potential of gifted students. By providing our educational program, by creating understanding of the needs of gifted students, and by promoting forums for educational research and leadership, we seek to produce graduates who are interested, effective learners, actively involved in understanding themselves and affecting change in their world. We also seek to improve educational opportunities for all people. It is our mission to accept the responsibility — as individuals and as an institution — to use our gifts and abilities to create better conditions for all.