About Our Schools
The Intergenerational Schools are a public, nonprofit community charter school network in Cleveland, Ohio. With schools in the Buckeye, Collinwood and Ohio City neighborhoods, we're transforming the school experience for Cleveland's children.
At the Intergenerational Schools, our mission is to connect, create, and guide a multigenerational community of lifelong learners and spirited citizens as we strive for academic excellence.
Transforming the School Experience
Our History
The Intergenerational Schools (Intergens) have deep roots in Cleveland. The first Intergenerational School opened in 2000 in what was then the Fairhill Center for the Aging in Cleveland’s Larchmere/Buckeye neighborhood under the leadership of Catherine C. Whitehouse, Ph.D., an educator and developmental psychologist; Peter J. Whitehouse, M.D. and Ph.D., a gerontologist, physician and faculty member at Case Western Reserve University; and Stephanie FallCreek, DSW, executive director at Fairhill. The school opened as a free public charter school to offer local families an innovative educational alternative to traditional public schools.
Transforming the School Experience
As a school psychologist and later a teacher, Dr. Catherine Whitehouse witnessed how the traditional lockstep educational system tended to ascribe learning disabilities to unique students, rather than adapting the teaching and learning to students’ individual development. From this experience, Dr. Catherine Whitehouse began to design a new educational model.
These founders envisioned a groundbreaking school founded on the ideas that learning is a developmental process (building on the past at an individual’s own pace) and that culture, experience and community are critical to fostering knowledge.
The school’s approach to education challenged the traditional age-based grade segregation that occurs in most schools by introducing three main tenets: multi-age classes, a literacy-focused, developmental curriculum where students move at their own pace based on mastery, and a diverse community of co-learners to support each child.
In 2000, 32 students (two 16-student classes) ranged in age from 5 to 8 years, setting the foundation for the educational model of small, multi-age classes that endures today.
Older adults interested in healthy aging partnered with students to help foster a love of books, to explore and learn together, and to serve as another caring adult to share their wisdom with this younger generation. In exchange, they enjoyed a renewed sense of purpose, acceptance and cognitive stimulation.
Learning and teaching each other side by side, both students and older adults could better understand and appreciate their individual contributions to a rich and diverse community. These fundamentals are what make the schools so unique today.
Statement of Non-Discrimination
The Intergenerational Schools do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, political affiliation or beliefs, athletic performance, special need, genetic information, proficiency in English, physical or mental disability or academic achievement, family/parental status, income derived from a public assistance program, membership in an employee organization, and does not allow reprisal or retaliation for any prior civil rights activity. Upon admission of any student who requires, or may require special education services, the School will comply with all federal and state laws.