Dwight School - History

History

Founded in 1872 by Dr. Julius Sachs as part of the Sachs Collegiate Institute, Dwight School was first known as “The Sachs School,” then The Franklin School. Originally located on West 34th Street and Broadway, it relocated several times as it grew, ultimately moving to 18 West 89th Street in 1912. Dr. Sachs, a noted educator and author (and brother of Samuel Sachs, who founded Goldman Sachs in 1882 with his father-in-law, banker Marcus Goldman,) headed the school until 1901, when he was appointed Professor of Education at Columbia University.

In 1880, the New York School of Languages was founded on 15 West 43rd Street as an academy of classical studies. Timothy Dwight, President of Yale University asked the school to pioneer a math and science program to replace traditional Greek and Latin as an entrance requirement. The New York School of Languages was later renamed The Dwight School in honor of that historic partnership.

Dwight School merged with the Bentley School in 1977, in order to add elementary and middle school programs to its curriculum.

In 1993, Dwight School merged with The Franklin School (which had adopted the International Baccalaureate (IB) Program in 1980. In 1996, Dwight School became the first school in North America to offer the full International Baccalaureate (IB) program from preschool through grade 12.

With the opening in fall 2005 of Dwight's Early Childhood Division (formerly Woodside Preschool), the Dwight School' became the first school to offer the IB Primary Years Program for children ages three through five.

Today, one-third of Dwight’s students come from overseas.