Upper East Side / East harlem
Self-directed learning.
Human connection.
Next century education.
The Agile Learning Center is an accredited, high-engagement K-12 microschool on the North Side of Central Park. Our community of self-directed thinkers, project-based creators, and future leaders develop the agency and real-world competencies that will empower them to thrive and build meaningful lives in a rapidly changing world.
How do we build our days?
The Agile Cycle
Learning is happening all of the time, all around us. ALC students direct and deepen their learning using The Agile Cycle.
01
Intention
Name what you want to explore, practice, make, or accomplish. An intention gives your time and attention a direction without requiring you to know exactly where you’ll end up.
02
Creation
Do the things: experiment, practice, build, investigate, play, collaborate, and make. Learning happens through active engagement with ideas, materials, people, and the world.
03
Reflection
Pause to look back at your day and intentions and notice what happened. What did you learn, what changed, and what might you carry forward or approach differently next time?
04
Sharing
Make your learning visible—to yourself and to others. Share what you made, discovered, questioned, or figured out, and let those exchanges spark what comes next.
What do we mean when we say we’re “Agile”? We value people, expect change, use tools to facilitate coordination, and continually adapt our practices as we change and grow. Students are our key stakeholders, and they directly guide our choices. We co-design the schedule, co-design the tools, and co-design the culture. We test, reflect, adjust, and iterate.
Sites of learning
Invitations to learn are all around us
Learning at ALC isn’t confined to any one format, setting, or space. We create rich conditions for learning through access to tools and materials, all of New York City to explore, and relationships that open up new ideas, experiences, skills, questions, and possibilities.
01 · in our space
Room for many ways of being and doing
Our school is designed to hold many kinds of activity at once. Students build and make, play music and games, use digital tools, work alone or together, move, talk, rest, experiment, and turn the spaces and materials around them toward ideas of their own.
02 · in the city
School is everywhere
Central Park, the subway, museums, neighborhood streets, shops, gardens, events, and unexpected encounters all become part of the day. Students learn the city by moving through it—planning trips, navigating transit, interacting with people, following interests, and growing their capacity to engage with the world around them.
03 · in relationship
we learn with and from each other
ALC is a mixed-age community of people learning alongside one another. Ideas, skills, questions, responsibilities, conflicts, games, plans, and projects move between students and facilitators all day long; together, we also make the schedule, create community agreements, and shape the culture of our shared experience.
The future will be shaped by those who dare to innovate
The future will be shaped by those who dare to innovate, can tolerate uncertainty, and learn from failures. It needs thinkers and creators who practice curiosity, cultivate wonder, and can collaborate effectively in pluralistic groups without losing themselves. Young people are driven to develop these capacities; our job is to accompany and be available to guide them.
We advocate for young people starting to make choices to shape their worlds now, so that they come to understand the future not as something that happens to them but as something they always have the power to help co-create.