Q&A with Head of School, Tiffany D. Trotter

Q: Ms. Trotter, what’s significant about being the 10th Head of School at KewForest?
A: I am the second female and the first person of color to serve as Head of School at The Kew-Forest School. My 24+ years of working in independent schools, including four as the Head of Middle and Upper School at Kew-Forest, have been in preparation for this role. I am excited to be leading the school into the next century (as we began our 106th year in September); while we are rooted deeply in our tradition, we are poised to grow toward the future.

Q: What’s a new initiative at the school that excites you?
A: Kew-Forest is a candidate school for the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program (PYP) and Middle Years Program (MYP). We are pursuing authorization as an IB World School. IB World Schools share a common philosophy – a commitment to high-quality, challenging, international education – that we believe is important for our students.

Q: Does this mark a dramatic shift in curriculum for Kew-Forest for the Lower School and Middle School?
A: Actually, no. Kew-Forest’s education and mission dovetail beautifully with those of IB. Our educational approach has been moving toward a more robust inter-disciplinary, hands-on, whole-student experience.

• In the Lower School, our teachers are terrific at fostering interdisciplinary learning. For example, in Grade 3 when working on the Migration and Movement unit, students read the book Front Desk by Kelly Yang, based on her experience as a child immigrating from China. Students carried over the learning about geography, woven into the unit, to their music class by writing and performing a song about latitude and longitude.
• In our Middle School this year, the capstone project emphasizes experiential learning that pushes students to take their learning into the community. Eighth graders will be meeting weekly throughout the year to discuss and research this year’s theme, “progress” - how it gets determined, who benefits from it, and how it impacts different communities around NYC when it comes to city planning and gentrification. The study will include three consecutive days of field trips to Chinatown, the Flatiron District, and East Harlem.
• Our upcoming Upper School international trip to Costa Rica, organized by our Upper School Spanish and Biology teachers, is cross-disciplinary and promotes language immersion, intercultural learning, and scientific exploration.
• IB’s emphasis on developing students as whole people is also matched by Kew-Forest’s use of Responsive Classroom practices in the Lower School and our school-wide adoption of Yale University’s RULER program to promote social-emotional learning.

Q: What can you say about academics in the Upper School?
A: The outcomes speak for themselves. The Class of 2023 received college acceptances to some of the most selective colleges in the world, including Barnard, Carnegie Mellon, Columbia, Cornell, Georgetown, and NYU. Our most recent AP test takers earned a mean score that was 20% above the national average. 80% of our senior class is enrolled in at least one AP class; several are enrolled in four or more of the dozen AP classes we offer. But our excellent program isn’t just academic. Students also engage in extracurriculars like Model UN and our Science Research Club, which partners with practicing scientists. Our Athletic program currently offers 7 mainstream sports including soccer, volleyball, cross country, basketball, tennis, and track, and we plan to revive specialized sports like archery, table tennis, and fencing.

Q: How can one learn more about KewForest?
A: I invite interested families to attend one of our upcoming In-Person Open Houses on Saturday, November 11 for Lower School and Saturday, December 2 for Middle & Upper School. To register, please visit kewforest.org/visit. I hope to see you there.

Contact: Soraya Díaz Tamayo, Director of Enrollment & Tuition Assistance, (718) 551- 3125, [email protected]

Source: The Kew-Forest School, Preparing Students for A World Of Possibilities, Q&A with Head of School, Tiffany D. Trotter - Queens Family magazine November 2023