Elisabeth Irwin (1880-1942), the founder of the Little Red School House, was a remarkable and influential educator who did much to transform American education in the early part of the twentieth century. Along with such contemporaries as John Dewey, Caroline Pratt, founder of the City and Country School, and Lucy Sprague Mitchell, founder of the Bank Street School, Irwin introduced pedagogical innovations that were revolutionary in their time. Indeed, it is hard to imagine a time when school meant students sitting silently in rows, reciting dry facts from primers; when moving around the classroom, when learning about contemporary life, when expressing themselves artistically and working with others in projects were all unheard of — yet this was the reality of American education when Elisabeth Irwin came along. Perhaps her most revolutionary insight was the most fundamental: she recognized that schools were, after all, about children — “the whole child,”— as she and her friend and mentor John Dewey liked to say. “Sometimes we forget,” she wrote, “that the child is not comparable to any factory product whatsoever.” She envisioned a different kind of experience for children:

We tried in our school to be rid of that oppressive something which strikes you with almost palpable force when you open the door of a large, over-regimented school…school is not merely a place where a child is compelled to ‘sit’ for eight years, although this seems to be the current view and in far too many instances corresponds to the facts…we should strive to make it the child’s school in the sense that the school adapts itself to his educational needs…

but we hope it will always be a place where ideas can grow, where heresy will be looked upon as possible truth, and where prejudice will dwindle from lack of room to grow. We hope it will be a place where freedom will lead to judgment — where ideals, year after year, are outgrown like last season's coat for larger ones to take their places.

had come together to mourn, perhaps, or possibly, at the most to appeal or protest . . . . In the ice-cream parlor on Sixth Avenue one of the parents of the school quickly got to his feet. He was a butcher, whose average income never exceeded forty dollars a week. He stated that he would contribute five dollars a week to keep his children in Miss Irwin's classes . . .One after another, other parents followed suit . . . The following fall one hundred and sixty-five pupils of the original two hundred in P.S. 41 attended the opening class of their own school, in their own schoolhouse, at 196 Bleecker Street.

Thus, the Little Red School House became a private school. But it was Elisabeth Irwin’s intention that the Little Red School House never become a refuge for the privileged few. The school’s charter made her intentions clear: Little Red School House would be "a small experimental school in which can be duplicated a typical public school situation." The yearly tuition of $160 was the same as the per capita cost of educating a child in the public schools. This commitment to social inclusiveness has remained constant in the culture of the school ever since. We are enormously proud of our diversity. Students from all races, religions and socio-economic classes attend the school and add to the richness both of the educational experience students receive here and of our life together as a community.

Nearly a decade after the move to Bleecker Street, a building was acquired at 40 Charlton Street so that the program could be expanded to include a high school. The ninth grade was established first, then, in successive years, a tenth, eleventh, and twelfth. The first classes began in the fall of 1941. The following year, Elisabeth Irwin died. In assembly one day, a ninth grader stood up and suggested that the High School be named in Miss Irwin’s honor. The faculty and the Board of Trustees made it official. Thus, Elisabeth Irwin High School was born and the official name of the school became what it is today. Later, the Middle School was established, thus giving LREI its current three-divisional structure. 

While LREI has experienced many changes in program, organization, size and governance over the past 76 years, there has been consistent throughout a remarkable continuity of philosophy and values. A fundamental goal of the school is to create a community in which personal independence strengthens a school culture of interdependence, cooperation and service. Young people at our school learn to live cooperatively with one another. The school retains its historic commitment to social justice and inclusion. Students are encouraged to examine their own values while respecting and striving to understand the values of others, to become involved in struggles for social justice and the realization of the promise of democratic life. So just as alumni tell stories of concerts given by Pete Seeger singing about social and racial justice and about school trips to the coal mines of Pennsylvania, so future alumni will remember the programs and discussions sponsored by today’s Multicultural Committee and Lesbian and Gay Issues Group.Academically, an LREI education has always been a stimulating, challenging experience. The curriculum is based on a belief that goes back to the original progressive educators, who recognized that the driving force behind authentic learning is a combination of children’s natural curiosity, creativity, purposes, values, learning styles and the very human desire to make sense out of the world around them. We remain committed to the value of active learning that places students at the center of their education under the expert guidance of an extraordinary and dedicated faculty. Learning at LREI is not the memorization of dry facts and the pursuit of grades; rather it is the meaningful learning that happens when the individual is passionately engaged with a subject. Each year students who transfer win placement in New York’s competitive public high schools (Stuyvesant, etc.) and other leading schools countrywide; and each year our graduates go off to many of the most selective colleges in the United States. Students at every grade level are motivated to draw upon personal experience as they encounter new bodies of knowledge and develop new skills. The "real world" is integrated into — indeed, often becomes — the classroom, and learning about people and history and culture, takes place not only through books, but through music and art and dance. We continue to produce a blend of student-centered education combined with academic rigor that has been the hallmark of the school since its earliest days. Our school responds to the needs and the interests of each individual. Teachers here, indeed, "fit the school to the child," as Elisabeth Irwin put it. Students are respected, listened to and cared about. They are also equipped to thrive in the competitive and demanding environment of college and adult life.

The Little Red School House and Elisabeth Irwin High School is recognized by educators around the world. Over the years, thousands of visitors have observed every aspect of the program. Today our High School’s Mod Plan is highly regarded as a pioneering and important educational innovation, while our Lower and Middle School divisions integrate academics with the arts in cutting edge social studies curricula. In each division, highly qualified faculty work together to develop, extend and articulate program. Teachers at LREI not only have considerable expertise in their fields and in child development; many practice, publish and perform independently. Indeed, hundreds of teachers have studied and practice-taught at the school, and over the years many conferences and seminars have been held to promote educational excellence and share the special qualities of LREI with a wider community. Most recently, the 75th anniversary of the school in 1997 was marked by a symposium — Intelligent Action: Educating for Democracy — which drew educators from around the country to Greenwich Village for two days of stimulating discussions at the cutting edge of contemporary educational thought. As we go forward, Little Red School House and Elisabeth Irwin High School will no doubt continue to be a leader in American education. But most important of all, we will continue to be a school that provides young people with the capacity not only for intellectual achievement, but also for "the art of happy and productive living," which Elisabeth Irwin believed was the chief end of education.

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