Stevens Cooperative School is teaming up with Harvard University to host a first-of-its-kind professional development conference for PreK-12 educators, bringing together teachers and administrators from across the region at the school's Jersey City campus on October 3, 2026. Called the Learning and Thinking That Make a Difference Conference, the event will be run in conjunction with Project Zero at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
The conference marks Stevens' first professional development event aimed at the wider education community, according to Hudson County View. It's organized by Shehla Ghouse, who serves as Stevens' Jersey City campus principal, and registration is currently open. Participants will hear a keynote address from a leading Project Zero researcher and take part in small, interactive workshops facilitated by educators experienced in adapting Project Zero's research and frameworks.
A Conversation Among Educators
Ghouse said the conference concerns deeper learning and student preparation, and hopes it begins a conversation among educators who learn from and with one another, per the same outlet's report. Conference sessions will explore critical thinking, creativity, student agency, and engaging diverse groups of learners, with an aim toward providing practical ideas and strategies participants can bring back to their own classrooms. The conference program will focus on developing student thinking, deepening learning, and preparing young people to navigate an increasingly complex world.
Organizers describe the event as the culmination of a long relationship between Stevens and Project Zero. Stevens faculty members have participated in book studies, professional development sessions, collaborative workshops, Project Zero institutes, and online courses over the years, bringing Project Zero approaches into classrooms, curriculum, and teaching and learning conversations at the school.
Harvard's Research Center Behind the Framework
Project Zero is the oldest research center at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. It was launched in 1967 by philosopher Nelson Goodman to study arts education, earning its name because Goodman noted that systematic research in the field was then at “zero,” according to Harvard Graduate School of Education. The center later expanded into cognitive research, creativity, and critical thinking frameworks under co-directors Howard Gardner and David Perkins.
One of Project Zero's best-known tools is its “Visible Thinking” framework, which relies on structured classroom routines, such as “See-Think-Wonder,” to help educators make student reasoning explicit and foster critical thinking dispositions, according to Project Zero. Those routines are now widely implemented in K-12 classrooms internationally. In August 2025, Project Zero expanded its professional development offerings by launching formal Certification of Proficiency programs in Visible Thinking and Cultures of Thinking, offering job-embedded feedback for active educators.
A Waterfront Campus With Deep Local Roots
Stevens Cooperative School brings its own long history to the partnership. Founded in 1949 by educator and artist Mary Sill Baker, the school began as a 1946 playgroup for faculty children at Stevens Institute of Technology and is recognized as the oldest parent cooperative school in New Jersey, according to Wikipedia. The school now serves more than 430 PreK-8 students across four campus buildings, including the 20,000-square-foot waterfront facility at 100 River Drive South in Jersey City's Newport neighborhood where the conference will take place.
Tuition for the 2026-2027 academic year runs $35,594 for early childhood programs and $36,111 for lower school grade levels, according to information posted on the Stevens Cooperative School website. To broaden access, the school also operates an Equity in Education Program that provides full, no-cost tuition for qualified low-income Hudson County families. Stevens holds dual regional accreditation from the New Jersey Association of Independent Schools and the Middle States Association Commission on Elementary and Secondary Schools, and is governed as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit managed by a Board of Trustees pairing elected cooperative parents with appointed community leaders, alongside Head of School Sergio Alati.
A Contrast With Public School Pressures Nearby
The conference arrives even as Jersey City's public elementary schools face their own, very different challenges. Downtown's P.S. 16 was operating at 200% capacity in 2026 following rapid residential growth, Hoodline previously reported on overcrowded classrooms, with the city having added roughly 45,000 residential units without mandated public school construction mechanisms. It's a reminder that as independent institutions like Stevens expand their professional programming and specialized waterfront facilities, the city's public school infrastructure continues to strain under the same wave of development reshaping the waterfront.
