Once called the “hippie school” because of its nonconformist approach to education, the Newark Center for Creative Learning continues to thrive.

Katie Leep visited public and private schools to decide where to send her daughter to kindergarten. Meredith was in preschool and had started to play with Barbies and paint her nails like her friends did, Leep says. But Meredith had other interests that her friends didn’t share.

After finding public schools crowded and some private schools a bit snobby, Leep decided on the Newark Center for Creative Learning. She hoped Meredith would be able to be herself there. Sure enough, “when she went to NCCL she could dig in the dirt, find slugs,” Leep said. “There was not that peer push to conform.”

With no desks, no textbooks, no grades, no tests and no report cards, NCCL offers an alternative to traditional schooling. For more than 30 years the small school tucked behind a Newark neighborhood has prepared students for the area’s top high schools and beyond.

Founder Ann Brown brought the idea of alternative schooling to Newark in 1970. At the time, store-front schools were popular in New York City and Brown wanted her children to learn in a similar environment in Newark. She told parents of the children at her son’s parent-run cooperative preschool that she wanted to open a cooperative school of her own. With the support of several parents and some money from a wealthy aunt, Brown fixed up a run-down fraternity house and opened the school.

The 50 students from kindergarten-age to fifth grade were not put in separate classrooms – the ages were all mixed together. Gradually more grades were added and a full staff was hired. Marilyn (sic) Magnani, one of the founding parents who is still an NCCL teacher today, says the school provided child-centered, developmentally appropriate education then and still does years later.

“The philosophy has stayed the same and that’s crucial to the existence of the school.” Magnani says. “At the same time they’ve adapted to the demands of society.” She says the school creates independent learners by focusing on the needs and interests of the children. Instead of moving on to the next grade each year, students stay in homerooms for two to three years, depending on their social, emotional and academic abilities. Rather than a set curriculum, teachers let students have a say in the subjects they study. During a history segment on the ancient Egyptians this year, the students became interested in Africa and spent a month learning about the entire continent. In another class, a visit to the mayor’s office to learn about city government led to the student’s creation of their own cities, complete with a budget and history.