A school with a spirit
Why this school exists
Millyard School was founded by parents frustrated with the schools on offer for one of two reasons: they didn't take education seriously, or they didn't pass on our values. We set out to do both.
We do what works, using a blend of evidence and tradition. We think the right culture is part of what works, and in fact the most fundamental part. We are patriotic, positive, and glad to live in New Hampshire. Much of our spirit comes from the past, and we look to the future, embracing technology where it serves.
The mills were the technology of their day. They stand for some of what we value: mastering nature, using engineering and math, pushing the world forward. We are not a science-and-engineering school, though. We raise well-rounded kids, with time for the essentials and time for their own interests.
What we value
Excellence, honesty, and camaraderie. We hold children to standards and tell them the truth about where they stand. We expect them to become capable of leading and of following, and we say so to them.
We think there is much to learn from the past, from when kids were freer and the culture more pioneering. Many of our values are traditional, because much of tradition works for good reasons. We believe in our values and we are not neutral about them.
We are not evidence automatons, and the evidence isn't good enough to make us one. Where it is strong, we follow it. Where it is thin or silent, we say so and go with what we value.
Who is behind it
Founder
Jeremy Kauffman
Technology entrepreneur and founder of LBRY. Came to education by reading the research, then built and published the evidence base the school runs on.
Head of School
Rachel Goldsmith
Leads the program and teaches in it.
More about the founder
Jeremy Kauffman. Founder of LBRY, the open publishing protocol behind Odysee. He came to schooling the way an engineer comes to a hard problem: by reading the literature first. The result is the public evidence base at teachingdb.com, over a thousand studies read and graded against a published rubric, and a school built to actually run on it. He is the school's president.
The board
The school is governed by an independent board of directors, including:
Chair
Jody Underwood
PhD in Education (Technion). Has researched technology for classroom learning and assessment for more than thirty years, and served thirteen years on the Croydon School Board, four as its chair.
Director
Joe Norman
PhD in Complex Systems and Brain Sciences (Florida Atlantic University). Complex-systems scientist and an affiliate of the New England Complex Systems Institute.
Treasurer
Dennis Pratt
Spent his career designing new products for startups in emerging industries. Now runs an inn in New Hampshire.
Claims you can check
Every school says its approach is research-backed. We publish the research: more than a thousand papers read and graded against a public rubric, organized by the actual decisions a school has to make. Where the evidence is strong, we follow it. Where it's thin or mixed, the entry says so. It's all at teachingdb.com.
Built the way the mills were
The Amoskeag mills took raw cotton and turned it into cloth, a mile of brick along the Merrimack where Manchester learned to make things. New Hampshire once built serious things with serious care. A school should be built the same way.
Talk to us
Questions, skepticism, or interest in enrolling: all welcome at hello@millyardschool.com.