Academics
Upper School

Curriculum

Our curriculum is dynamic, forward-looking, exciting and is designed to give every girl a substantial founding in the skills and knowledge she will need as a college student, an independent adult and a citizen of the world.

Elective Showcase

Baldwin offers a variety of elective courses designed to challenge students while tapping into their specific interests.

Examples include:
  • “Fairy Tales Reinvented” allows students to explore whether fairy tales are still relevant in a modern world.
  • “Black in America: Then and Now” pairs canonical and contemporary African American literature and film to explore how narratives of blackness from the past have evolved (or not).
  • “Contemporary World Issues” focuses on international relations and foreign policy, human rights and the evolving role of the United States in the world.
  • “National Resources, Consumption and the Environment” aims to explore the planet’s health through a detailed examination of its resources – energy, atmosphere, water, land and biodiversity.

Research: Scholars, Science Symposium

The Science Symposium program allows students to embark on graduate-level scientific research projects in labs across the country, including Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and the University of Pennsylvania. The students then present their work at Baldwin’s Science Research Symposium.

The Baldwin Review is a journal of a collection of individual research papers produced by Upper School Baldwin students from their work during the summer months. Girls spend time in university labs, working with university professors and their teams in all areas of research. Click here to see the latest edition.

Writing Within and Beyond the Curriculum

A hallmark of a Baldwin education is the writing skills our girls develop. Our curriculum emphasizes independent critical thinking, communicating with diverse audiences and conveying ideas in a range of creative, digital and scholarly genres.

Girls also have the opportunity to participate in our nationally recognized student newspaper, literary and language magazines and our research journal which showcases the independent research conducted by our girls typically at university labs.

Interdisciplinary Learning

Baldwin’s students experience interdisciplinary learning throughout the school year in various projects and collaborations. In addition, in the spring, students pause in their regular coursework to participate in Baldwin’s Wyss Interdisciplinary Institute. Each student participates in a single class that studies one advanced topic in depth with expert faculty from different fields. The nontraditional schedule and intensive focus stimulate creativity and fresh perspective.

Examples include:
  • "The Chemistry of Jewelry"
  • "Design and Build a Greenhouse"
  • "Maps, Math and Democracy"
  • "The Age of the App"
For full course descriptions, click here.
Click here to view the full course catalog.