CORLEARS SCHOOL

Families who want a small, values-driven progressive elementary experience for their child — particularly those entering in the toddler or nursery years — and who value intimacy and explicit social-justice framing over a larger, more conventional campus.

• A 3.3:1 student-teacher ratio with 79 students total — this is extraordinarily small and personal, more like a learning collective than a school.
• A continuous toddler-through-fifth-grade arc, so a child can stay in one community from age 2 through age 11 without ever changing schools.
• An explicit social justice and values-driven curriculum, with named commitments to belonging, courage, and responsibility built into daily life rather than tacked on.
• The Rising Leaders Core Values Scholarship, which signals a real (not just rhetorical) commitment to socioeconomic diversity.
• NAEYC accreditation in addition to NAIS, reflecting serious early-childhood credentials alongside the independent-school framework.

• The tuition range ($26,400–$47,000) is unusually wide — ask directly what determines where in the range a family lands and how much of the school is actually at the lower end.
• With only 79 children, the social world is small and overlapping; families who want a broader peer pool should weigh that.
• It ends at fifth grade — the middle-school transition is a real conversation to have early, since Corlears graduates will need to apply out for sixth grade.
• Progressive, inquiry-based teaching is a strong fit for some kids and a mismatch for others; visit a classroom and watch how the children spend their time before committing.
• Proximity to the 8 Av L and 14 St A/C/E makes pick-up easy but also means dealing with the volume and foot traffic of those stations.