This May, after a year or more of rigorous study in Blair’s advanced survey and seminar courses, Blair students prepared for a new kind of challenge: the Portfolio Symposiums. More than just an academic requirement, the symposiums offered students a moment to pause, reflect and share how far they’ve come. In many ways, they marked both a beginning and an end–the final step in a year of deep inquiry and the beginning of a broader journey into lifelong learning. And, as part of Blair’s progression beyond traditional AP classes and into a more dynamic model of learning, the symposiums celebrated outcomes that matter: student agency, higher-order thinking, reflection and metacognition.

A New Kind of May Milestone
On May 14, a select group of 12th-grade students and advanced curriculum teachers gathered in the Chiang-Elghanayan Center for Innovation and Collaboration for the capstone experience. Designed as a stage for students in advanced courses to share the best of their yearlong experience—including wins, stumbles and lessons learned—the symposium was an invitation-only event. Select seniors, who were chosen on the strength of their portfolios, presented their work to faculty and advisors, engaged in scholarly discussion and responded thoughtfully to questions about their learning. Juniors were offered the same opportunity during a second symposium held on May 26. 

After the first full year of Blair’s new advanced curriculum, Assistant Head of School for Academics Nathan Molteni sees tangible results. “We set out to offer students both broad surveys and deep-dive seminars in the program, designed by faculty members experienced with what works best for Blair students,” Mr. Molteni explained. In the last year, the School has done just that. Faculty who create and teach these courses followed an exacting process: Each course begins with a proposal and is shaped by feedback and fine-tuned during an audit to ensure that it aligns with Blair’s vision for advanced coursework. 

Psychology teacher Shelly Mantegna, as the School’s Director of Advanced Curriculum, has had a front-row seat to the program’s development. Tasked with ensuring that Blair meets its ambitious goals, she has closely monitored the progress of each advanced course. “The audit process really matters,” Mrs. Mantegna emphasizes. “It means that we have accountability, a way to maintain rigor and support learning outcomes.” 

In addition to one-on-one meetings with the teachers of all 45 advanced courses, key administrators like Mrs. Mantegna have also reviewed each student’s portfolio. This additional layer of oversight has strengthened accountability and provided an opportunity to celebrate the depth, creativity and intellectual risk-taking evident across student work. It’s one more way Blair remains focused on maintaining high standards while championing authentic learning.

Time to Think & Explore

“Not teaching to the test has meant more time in the classroom and lab–and more time to reflect,” Mrs. Mantegna notes. Traditionally, for many courses, much of the focus in AP classes was on memorization. “Now,” she continues, “classes like Advanced Survey: Why Art Matters [formerly AP Art History] have the time and freedom to pursue deeper study. This year, art students did primary research at New York’s Center for Architecture and The Whitney Museum of American Art, something that would not have been possible under the traditional AP schedule.”

This freedom has not only made room for intellectual exploration, it has also created space for metacognition. By encouraging students to think about how they think, Blair’s advanced courses cultivate self-awareness, intentionality and personal growth. “Reflecting on their work helps students understand themselves as learners,” Ms. Mantegna reflects, making their work more meaningful and their progress more lasting. Through the symposiums, students are not only presenting what they know, but also how they’ve come to know it—truly owning their work. 

Veteran math instructor Latta Browse, who has been teaching at Blair for more than 40 years, has noticed the same shift in his Advanced Integral Calculus course. “Since we no longer have to consider the AP test, we spend much more time on the theoretical underpinnings of calculus,” he notes. Blair’s budding mathematicians now explore the epsilon-delta definition of a limit and prove complicated limits rigorously. The class spends more time on parametric and polar curves—topics previously condensed due to time constraints. The curriculum has also expanded to include first-order linear differential equations and a more thorough treatment of Euler’s Method. “All in all, the new course better prepares students for the third semester of college calculus that many will enter in their futures,” he says. 

The School’s advanced curriculum, aimed at richer academic experiences, makes an impact not only in Blair classrooms; it also resonates beyond campus, catching the attention of colleges and universities.

Colleges Are Listening & Responding
Colleges and universities are listening–and responding. Blair is now one of more than 100 independent schools across the country that have moved to custom-designed advanced coursework, a movement that aligns with shifting expectations in higher education. With more and more colleges—including Brown University, Dartmouth University and California Institute of Technology—moving away from awarding credit for AP exams, there is a growing need for rigorous, carefully designed alternatives. 

“Schools that create their own advanced courses are able to uniquely challenge their students,” says University of Vermont admission counselor Candice Duckworth, who came to Blair last spring during one of the school’s campus college fairs. For her, Blair’s model does more than check a box—it mirrors the type of learning, complete with deep inquiry, strong communication and creative thinking, that colleges want to see.  

“While still new, Blair’s advanced curriculum will help prepare students for the kind of work they’ll experience as first-year students at a college or university. Students selecting these courses will be prepared with critical thinking, research and communication skills that will set them apart from their peers.”

That institutional validation is important–but even more valuable is seeing how that validation plays out in real time, through student voices, ideas and growth. That experience was on full display during the senior symposium on May 14.

Beyond the Test
As Mr. Molteni moved through the senior symposium, stopping to listen and ask questions at each presentation, he was struck by the students’ themselves–their confidence, curiosity, their command of the subject. One of the night’s challenges for students had been how to translate a year’s worth of deep, often complex work for an audience that might not share their expertise. It was no small task. But, as he watched one student shaking hands with his advisor, beaming with pride, Mr. Molteni felt certain they had succeeded. 

Already, his mind was thinking ahead to the next year and how Blair’s advanced curriculum will continue to evolve. Twenty students had applied for a new advanced history course, Modern Global Thought, and other new advanced courses—in linear algebra, The Odyssey, and a class on Homer and Virgil—showed similar promise. There was much to look forward to. Though the May symposiums marked the end of the academic year, they also felt like the beginning of something bigger: a lifelong pursuit for Blair students of asking questions, digging in and thinking beyond the test.