To accomplish our mission and insure the success of our educational program, instructional practices include but are not limited to: constructivist lesson design, lesson planning "with the end in mind", developmentally appropriate learning tasks, addressing multiple intelligences, criterion-referenced student projects, the development of authentic learning tasks for authentic purposes, and creating a community of readers and writers.

Mary Collins School at Cherry Valley has its academic roots in a constructivist approach to learning.
In Constructivism the emphasis is placed on the learner or the student, rather than the teacher or the instructor. Learning is also affected by the context and the beliefs and attitudes of the learner. Learners are encouraged to invent their own solutions and to try out ideas and hypotheses. They are given the opportunity to build on prior knowledge. Learner autonomy and initiative is accepted and encouraged.