22. Education on the Dalton Plan

Helen Parkhurst’s seminal book Education on the Dalton Plan, published in 1922, proposed a complete restructuring of schools to balance individual inquiry with cooperation and community. Widely praised on publication with international recognition, the book serves as the blueprint for Dalton’s progressive philosophy.

In her seminal book, Education on The Dalton Plan published in 1922, our Founder Helen Parkhurst described the history and implementation of The Dalton Plan which serves, to this day, as the blueprint for our school’s progressive educational philosophy. 

Influenced by John Dewey and Maria Montessori, Parkhurst developed a plan that proposed a complete restructuring of schools. She began “with the avowed object of demonstrating what The Dalton Plan could do to revitalize education — to make it a living thing capable of arousing and preserving the interest of pupils in their work.” The Plan balanced freedom for the student to pursue individual learning with the need for “cooperation or interaction of community life.”

Widely praised on publication and receiving international recognition, the book was translated into 14 languages and adopted by schools around the world. The book has been a constant, still distributed to teachers to familiarize them with foundational principles.

So much of what Helen Parkhurst wrote rings true today at Dalton where individualized learning and a commitment to help children develop their abilities to work together in the classroom, the community, and the larger world, remain the focus.
—Beth Softness, Director of Advancement Communications
—Stephanie Fins, Curator of the Centennial Project, Anthropologist and Museum Program