CLASSROOM, INC.
Past & Present
 Classroom, Inc. is committed to helping students with the greatest needs gain the essential skills that will secure their future.
The inspiration for Classroom, Inc. came in 1988. Having recently moved some of its operations to Brooklyn, the Morgan Stanley Group “adopted a school” in conjunction with the borough’s Academy of Finance program. It soon became clear that the middle and high school students needed more far-reaching support than workplace internships could offer.
Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley was using computer simulations to successfully train some of its staff members. Why couldn’t students benefit from the same kind of active learning? Excited by this possibility, our founder Lewis Bernard decided to develop an instructional tool that would engage students while educating them in academic and workplace skills. He and Morgan Stanley colleagues Charlie Snow and Bill Higgins partnered with Columbia’s Teachers College to develop The Parkside Hotel, a software simulation in which students act as a hotel manager. Soon after it was piloted in two Brooklyn schools, the program had a long waiting list. The success of this early pilot and a desire to expand the opportunities for students and teachers led to the 1991 founding of the nonprofit Classroom, Inc.
Since then, we have grown dramatically. We’ve been in nearly 1,000 sites in 20 states, and served approximately 600,000 students. Today we offer ten simulation-based complete Learning Environments and top-notch professional development. Though richer than The Parkside Hotel in components and instructional features, our Learning Environments are based on the same underpinnings that set in motion Classroom, Inc.’s early success: commitment to a learn-by-doing pedagogical model, the belief that cooperative learning enhances students’ skills and prepares them for the workplace, and the trust that when students are given meaningful tasks with realistic consequences, they are proud to “own” their learning and more likely to succeed.
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