Mission Statement

Carden of Tucson’s mission is to provide exceptional academic, physical, leadership, and social programs to enable each student to reach his or her full potential, and to prepare the students for success in their further educational endeavors.

School Vision

The Carden Vision is comprehensive. It focuses on a safe, fun, and intimate campus to which students willingly and enthusiastically attend, and about which parents feel secure and comfortable. It encompasses small classes that foster a family-type environment in which every student can grow commensurate with his ability. It includes a visionary administration that sets and maintains high academic standards for all students, and encourages continued professional growth of all staff members. Central to this vision is a faculty that loves children, enjoys teaching, and is committed to helping their students master the Carden, State, and National Curriculum Standards, as well as their own continued professional growth.

Curricular Philosophy

Dignity is the keynote of Carden School. Life is a joy, so should be learning, said Mae Carden, noted educator who founded the Carden Curriculum. School should equip each child to achieve the life triumphant. The three R’s are reason, respect, and responsibility. Carden seeks to develop students who are adjusted, capable, confident, eager, alert, courageous, generous, just, self-critical, compassionate, courteous, and happy. The fundamental cause of success in life and in school is not the youngsters’ IQ, but his or her SQ, the Stamina Quotient. The teacher aids each child to develop the stamina to achieve success. Emotional control through personal choice is a great lesson of life. Youngsters may know delay, but they do not need to know failure. Each child should achieve success. Some children progress rapidly. They must be well grounded in subject matter. They must not think that cursory reading is a substitute for thinking in depth. Some children require more time to learn. The teacher is the model for success in the classroom. A child should not find that the purpose of school is the collection of errors. The child will meet challenges in school, but with the teacher’s encouragement and direction, the youngster need not know defeat. Students develop an eagerness to learn and accept responsibility to learn rather than act as if they were bystanders. They are willing to become involved in the task and show the confidence and self-trust necessary to become self-reliant, independent thinkers. Each is developing an individuality with dignity, confidence, and respect.

About CARDEN Schools

Mae Carden established the first CARDEN SCHOOL® in 1934 at 24 East 68th Street in New York City. She demonstrated that children can gain an understanding of their own language and attain the ability to use it correctly when reading, listening, speaking, or writing. Her goal was to teach children to think; her main techniques were analysis and rhythm. Her educational philosophy and teaching techniques became an integral part of the CARDEN METHOD®. Teachers, students, and parents often shorten the name of this interrelated, eclectic group of approaches to learning. They call it Carden.

Each CARDEN SCHOOL® is independently owned and operated. Carden is not a franchise. Each school preserves its own individuality while continuing under the guidance of the Carden Educational Foundation, which provides Carden teaching techniques and materials to the schools.

The CARDEN METHOD^®

The CARDEN METHOD® is a vital educational philosophy with proven teaching techniques applied to a curriculum concerned with the development of the whole child. The Carden curriculum begins with three-year-old children and continues through middle school, each level reinforcing and building upon the strengths gained by the student during the previous year.

Using a highly individualized approach, Carden meets each learner’s particular needs. Children receive the sound, well-rounded education they need to realize their full potential in life. Carden believes that life is a joy, and so should be learning. This attitude promotes a life-long love of learning among Carden students.

The Carden curriculum includes language arts, mathematics, history, science, and geography. A cultural program engenders appreciation of art and music. A drama program affords participation for every student. A guidance program develops the student by awakening each child to ethical and social values.

The CARDEN Curriculum

Mae Carden opened the first Carden School in 1934. Since that time, Carden has grown to more than 75 schools across the United States. This curriculum has stood the test of time. It is a phonics based “Back to Basics” approach to education.

Alternative Curriculum Strategy: The Carden Method^®

The CARDEN METHOD® concerns itself with the development of the whole child. It is highly individualized in approach, meeting the particular needs of the learner. A sound basic education is the heritage children receive through the Carden academic program. There is continuity from grade to grade.

Carden teachers receive instruction in educational philosophy and teaching techniques developed in the classroom by Mae Carden. They are required to attend regularly scheduled educational programs to maintain and advance the professional quality of their Carden teaching.

The Carden Curriculum emphasizes the interrelationship of the content of subjects presented to the students. Comprehension is assured through unification of the language arts, namely reading, spelling, speaking, listening, composition, and paragraph analysis. Comprehension develops rhythm in speech and reading. The mental image is awakened.

The Carden classroom maintains a cheery, calm atmosphere in which the student develops powers of concentration and works in a relaxed manner. Students are spared the tension of competition.
Competition is not a part of the learning experience. Pressure and rivalry are avoided as Carden appreciates every individual.

Children in a Carden school are taught with adequate individual help so that any difficulties in understanding a child may have acquired can be overcome. The teacher who properly applies Carden teaching techniques is equipped to analyze and correct difficulties as they arise. Thus each child can be assured a thorough knowledge of the elementary subjects. The child who learns quickly will proceed at his own rate of speed, but the child who develops more slowly will move forward with a complete understanding of basic knowledge instead of being forced to struggle along with only half of this required information. A child may learn slowly, but he or she need not know failure.

The CARDEN METHOD® offers a full liberal arts education. Each succeeding grade level builds on the foundation placed during the previous year in the following areas of interrelated study:

The Curriculum

• Emphasizes interrelationship of the content of subjects presented
• Assures comprehension by unifying the language arts – reading, spelling, speaking, listening, composition, and paragraph analysis
• Releases teaching time for a broadened curriculum because of success the students achieve in language arts
• Awakens the mental image
• Develops rhythm in speech and reading
• Aims for independence and accomplishment in study
• Appreciates every individual
• Avoids pressure and rivalry
• Spares the student nervous strain and tension because competition is not a part of the learning experience
• Maintains a cheery, calm atmosphere in which the student develops powers of concentration and works in a relaxed manner

Carden places a strong emphasis on language arts and mathematics within a values based curriculum. Small class sizes enable the teachers to provide an exceptional program aligned with the Arizona State Standards implemented through the national Carden Instruction Method. In addition to the “Back to Basics” structure in the core subjects, the school provides instruction in French, Health, Physical Education, Computers, Art and Music.