Hurley teachers draw on both the most innovative components of the BPS curriculum and on specialized programming to provide an exciting academic experience for our students. In the elementary grades, we use:

• Writing: The Lucy Calkins Writing Curriculum
• Reading: The Reading Street Curriculum
• Mathematics: TERC Investigations

In addition, teachers develop project-based work that crosses disciplines and enhances learning. To support this teaching, the Hurley invites its many partners into the classroom to share their expertise and experience. Students also venture out of the school on field trips as close as the Villa Victoria Cultural Center to hear Colombian Jazz or as far as Lovells Island to explore tidal pools.

At the Hurley, we believe that science is an important key to the future, requiring teaching methods that thoroughly engage our students. Every grade at the Hurley has its own unique science program. In K–2nd, the classroom teacher brings a hands-on approach to earth science, using the Hurley’s garden as well as trips to the New England Aquarium as illustration. In 3rd– 5th grades, students work with a science specialist and benefit from STEM classes (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) such as robotics and woodworking to enhance the traditional science curriculum. In middle school, the dedicated science specialist uses the resources of our partners at Northeastern and MIT to bring science alive, with opportunities to see first-hand research on the human brain and to dissect sheep hearts. Fieldtrips to the Museum of Science, the New England Aquarium, local geological formations, and other science-related institutions are a key part of science education at the Hurley.

By 5th grade, students who have studied at the Hurley since kindergarten can read, write and speak both Spanish and English with a high level of proficiency. Unlike traditional elementary school language programs that expose children to a foreign language for 40 minutes once a week, the Hurley School immerses its students daily in a stimulating bilingual and multicultural environment. Because Hurley students hear and read Spanish as often as English, they acquire a second language in much the same way that they learned their first.

Academic excellence goes hand in hand with language acquisition at the Hurley. All our teachers have extensive training in implementing a dual-language program as integral part of an academically rigorous education. As a result, the Hurley’s tested dual-language approach graduates well-educated students who are not only bilingual but also biliterate.

• Academic: Our students, whether native speakers of English or Spanish, achieve high levels of success in both languages.
  • The Multiple Benefits of Dual Language
  • The Astounding Effectiveness of Dual Language for All
• Cognitive: Bilingual students perform better on tasks that call for creative thinking, pattern recognition, and problem-solving. Bilingual students also have greater linguistic awareness and a more complex understanding of their native language.
  • Being Bilingual May Boost Your Brain Power
  • Juggling Languages can Build Better Brains
  • The Advantages of Being Bilingual
• Socio-Cultural: Proficiency in two languages also permits students to broaden their horizons by engaging with folk tales, songs, idioms, expressions, historical documents and other primary sources without the mediation of translation. Because our students are bilingual, they deepen their understanding of the world by communicating with people from other cultural groups.
  
• Economic: There is an increasing demand for bilingual employees. By the time Hurley’s students enter the workforce, this will be even more important.
  • Why it pays to be bilingual
  • Biliteracy for a Global Society