What is the HighScope Curriculum?

HighScope's educational approach emphasizes “active participatory learning.” Active learning means students have direct, hands-on experiences with people, objects, events, and ideas.

Children’s interests and choices are at the heart of HighScope programs. They construct their own knowledge through interactions with the world and the people around them. Children take the first step in the learning process by making choices and following through on their plans and decisions. Teachers, caregivers, and parents offer physical, emotional, and intellectual support. In active learning settings, adults expand children’s thinking with diverse materials and nurturing interactions.

Highpoint Goals for Children

• To learn through active involvement with people, materials, events, and ideas
• To become independent, responsible, and confident — ready for school and ready for life
• To learn to plan many of their own activities, carry them out, and talk with others about what they have done and what they have learned
• To gain knowledge and skills in important academic, social, and physical areas