schedules
and tuition
The school year begins in September and ends at the end of May and follows the Montgomery County Public Schools with respect to holidays and the City of Takoma Park along with other environmental incidents (e.g. air quality, extreme heat/cold) for emergency school closures.
Nursery School Daily Schedule Fall 2025. New Programming!
| Age (before September 1, 2025) | Schedule | Class Name | |
| 2 & 3 years old | M-F | 8:30–11:30 | Leaves, Mixed-Age |
| 4 years old | M-F | noon–3:00 | Tracks, Prekindergarten |
What Happens Each Day?
Every age group engages in a whole child, play- and place-based curriculum is unique to our Cooperative School. Over the course of each week, the schedule includes daily story times, circle meetings, and meals (brought from home). Learning in art, science, math, social studies, and literacy is housed in the great outdoors in all weather. “Journey” days (urban nature exploration) and campfires are regular features of the older class programs.
Monthly Tuition and Program fees for the 2025-2026 School Year.
| Class Name | Monthly Tuition | Annual Program Fee |
| Leaves, Mixed-age (2s/3s) | $ 822 | $ 318 |
| Tracks, Prekindergarten (4s/5s) | $ 822 | $ 318 |
Tuition assistance is available through the School’s own Ripple Tuition Assistance Fund, the MSDE Child Care Scholarship, and/or Montgomery County’s Working Parents Assistance Program. Contact Tuition Assistance for more information.
Family Involvement at The Cooperative School
The Cooperative School’s distinctive brand of progressive education rests on two pillars—attracting creative, innovative, professionally trained educators, and welcoming and guiding engaged adults (co-opers) into the classroom and in administering the school.
Our staff consists of a School Director/Lead Teacher, who leads the 4- turning 5 year old classes, a lead teacher for the mixed age 2-3 year old class. A second teacher assists in both classes. Our teachers hold years of experience, degrees, and are regularly engaged in enriching and improving their practices.
Families serve on the Board of Directors or a committee. This service ensures for lower tuition for all member families. A return to our foundational cooperative, community movement of required classroom participation (co-oping) is cause for a celebration within our alumni and membership collective.
Summer Camp Program (Tink)
Tinkering at the Cooperative School, known as Tink, is scheduled for five week-long sessions in the Summer. It does not require co-oping. Tink is designed for elementary school-age children, current kindergarteners through 5th grade.
Summer programming for 2025 will not be available, but we will return in Summer 2026 with a new accommodations which are better suited to Summer learning and experiences.