New College, Teachers College, Columbia University

In the fall of 1932, an experimental undergraduate school for the purpose of teacher training was established at Teachers College (TC), Columbia University during an historic period of global, political and socio-economic turmoil. Firmly entrenched within the social reconstructivist tradition advocated by George S. Counts and others, the purpose of the school was to develop the capacities of its students for intellectual and social leadership and provide guidance in effectually meeting the universal persistent problems of living that one faced as an individual, as a member of social groups, and as a teacher of children and adults. Along with the relevancy of humanity’s common tribulations the school used concepts of community in real world situations, extended foreign study, active research, and authentic assessment as an integral part of a portfolio-based undergraduate learning curriculum which rejected traditional summative grades or credits as the basis of degree completion. The experiment, “the New College for the Education of Teachers”, would close within seven years under the public pretext of financial hardship and over the protestations of some of the leading educational and social figures of the time.

New College was committed to providing its graduates with a "realistic acquaintance with life," and for this reason "all students [were] expected to spend at least several months at the New College Community in North Carolina. [Reference: "Plans for the New College Community, 1936," mimeographed broadsheet Gen. 28, 3.20.35.] The program included academic work in the natural sciences as well as a chance to observe "at first hand the problem of group living in a rural community." [Ibid]

Another hallmark of the school was the emphasis on study abroad. Within a few years of Smith College establishing the first U.S. college program abroad, New College expected all of its students to spend a significant amount of time abroad.