The Dalton School, originally called the Children's University School, was founded by
Helen Parkhurst in 1919. After experimentation in her own one-room school with
Maria Montessori, Parkhurst visited other progressive schools in Europe including
Bedales School and its founder and headmaster
John Haden Badley in England. She developed what she called the Dalton Plan, which encouraged teachers and students to work together toward individualized goals. The Laboratory Plan was first put into effect as an experiment in the high school of
Dalton, Massachusetts, in 1916. The estate of her benefactor
Josephine Porter Boardman, was also near the town of Dalton and from this beginning the Laboratory Plan and school eventually took their names. In 1919, Helen Parkhurst relocated to New York City, where she opened her first school on
West 74th Street. Larger facilities soon became necessary; the Lower School was moved to West 72nd Street, and the High School opened in the autumn of 1929 in the current building at 108 East 89th Street.
Eleanor Roosevelt admired the work of Helen Parkhurst and played an important role in expanding the population and resources of the school by promoting a merger between the Todhunter School for girls (founded by
Winifred Todhunter) and Dalton in 1939.
Austria,
Belgium,
Chile, the
Czech Republic,
Hong Kong,
Japan, and the
Netherlands. ==Admission==