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Academics Curriculum

The Guide to the Curriculum

This guide provides both general and specific information about the NMH curriculum, the requirements for graduation, and detailed course descriptions in each discipline.

• Downloadable 2008-09 Guide to the Curriculum
• Downloadable 2007-08 Guide to the Curriculum
• Online guide

Important notice about the 2007-08 academic schedule
In November 2006, Head of School Thomas K. Sturtevant announced an adjustment to the Northfield Mount Hermon academic schedule: NMH would shift from a trimester block schedule to a semester block schedule in September 2007. The essential difference is that students now take three major courses in each of two semesters instead of two major courses in each of three trimesters. This decision was made after a thorough process of inquiry and examination of schedule options by a faculty-student committee and a series of meetings with the entire faculty.

In the ten years since NMH pioneered the block schedule, we have deeply confirmed that longer class periods create a richer, more engaging learning environment. Going forward, we will continue to root our academic program in the long-block structure, and we are confident that this adjustment to semesters will enrich our students’ already positive learning experience.

The merits of this adjustment include:

• a more balanced structure that increases the number of key adults in the daily life of each student;
• extending the number of days that each course runs by about five weeks, strengthening the learning of skills and concepts that are absorbed gradually over time;
• expanding each student’s breadth of academic focus from two major subjects at a time to three, which supports our emphasis on interdisciplinary learning.

Specifically:

• the semester model allows us to add about five weeks of additional class days to each course;
• long blocks will last between 75 and 90 minutes, adjusted from the current 90 to 105 minutes;
• homework assignments will be adjusted to equal the current expectation.