What Is the Prominent Mode of Instruction in America’s Elite Private Schools?

by Michael Keany

November 2026

Walk into many of America’s most selective private schools and one feature of instruction quickly becomes apparent: students are expected to do much of the intellectual work themselves.

There is no single instructional method shared by every elite independent school. Teachers still lecture, demonstrate procedures, assign readings, teach vocabulary, explain difficult concepts, and provide direct instruction when appropriate. Yet schools such as Phillips Exeter Academy, the Lawrenceville School, and the Dalton School illustrate a prominent instructional philosophy: small-group, discussion-centered, student-active learning supported by intensive teacher feedback.

Perhaps the clearest example is Phillips Exeter Academy’s Harkness method. Typically, 12 students and a teacher sit together around an oval table. Students arrive having prepared the material beforehand. Instead of spending most of the period listening to a teacher explain what they should know, students question one another, test interpretations, challenge assumptions, explain their reasoning, and build understanding collaboratively.

Exeter describes Harkness as collaborative learning in which students are empowered to take greater control of their education. The teacher remains essential, but the role shifts from being primarily a dispenser of information to being a facilitator, questioner, expert resource, and diagnostician of student thinking. (Phillips Exeter Academy)

The Lawrenceville School has adopted a similar philosophy. Its strategic plan describes Harkness as its “defining pedagogy,” emphasizing thoughtful inquiry, independent thinking, differing perspectives, civil discourse, curiosity, and collaboration. Importantly, Lawrenceville is working to define how Harkness should look within different academic departments, acknowledging that teaching mathematics, laboratory science, history, and literature may require somewhat different applications of the same student-centered philosophy. (Lawrenceville School)

The Dalton School in New York approaches the same goal somewhat differently. Its famous Dalton Plan is organized around House, Assignment, and Lab. Students receive structured academic assignments but also have opportunities to determine how they will approach aspects of their learning. Particularly significant is Dalton’s Lab system, through which students work individually or in small groups with teachers to seek clarification, review work, pursue independent projects, or extend their learning. Dalton describes these sessions as opportunities for students to take greater ownership of their education while receiving highly individualized attention. (Dalton School)

Taken together, these schools suggest a recognizable instructional pattern:

Prepare independently → discuss collaboratively → explain and defend thinking → receive expert feedback → revise understanding.

That sequence differs considerably from the stereotypical classroom in which the teacher talks, students take notes, and everyone subsequently completes the same assignment. The difference is not simply that elite schools use less direct instruction. Rather, they frequently use direct instruction strategically, embedding it within a larger environment in which students are expected to talk, question, write, investigate, solve problems, and defend conclusions.

Small class sizes make this possible. A teacher working with roughly a dozen students can listen carefully to individual reasoning, notice misconceptions, ask follow-up questions, and provide feedback that would be considerably more difficult in a class of 30.

There is an important lesson here for public schools. The transferable idea is not necessarily buying oval tables or copying the Harkness method. It is recognizing what many highly regarded private schools appear to value most: intellectual engagement rather than student compliance.

In these classrooms, the question is not merely, Did the teacher cover the material? It is, What intellectual work did the students actually do?

That may be the most important distinction of all. America’s elite private schools vary enormously, but a prominent instructional model places students—not lectures—at the center of the learning process.

References

1. Phillips Exeter Academy. “Harkness.” Phillips Exeter Academy. https://exeter.edu/academics/harkness/
2. The Lawrenceville School. “Strategic Plan.” The Lawrenceville School. https://www.lawrenceville.org/about-us/strategic-plan
3. The Dalton School. “The Dalton Plan in High School.” Dalton School. https://www.dalton.org/about/the-dalton-plan/assignment/assignment-...

——————————

Prepared with the assistance of AI software OpenAI. (2026). ChatGPT (5.2) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com