Who We Are

Dr. Jennifer Cutler Merritt, Director of CCPP
Assistant Professor of Education

Founder and director of the university-based middle school that provides recently court-adjudicated students from the Cleveland Municipal School District with a unique curriculum grounded in the philosophies of gifted education and service learning. Dr. Merritt began this innovative program for in 1999 while a visiting professor in the Education & Allied Studies department at John Carroll University.

Dr. Merritt's Faculty Page

Drs. Sharon Kaye and Paul Thomson, Philosophy Curriculum Directors
Associate and Assistant Professors of Philosophy

Drs. Kaye and Thomson created a new curriculum to meet our new students’ academic needs. Together, and again volunteering, Drs. Kaye and Thomson wrote a two volume philosophy book for teens. They accepted the responsibility of teaching 40-50 CMSD students for two hours weekly in Dolan Science Center from September to June of this school year and trained ten JCU students to facilitate small group break out sessions to encourage class participation. Dr. Kaye also was instrumental in developing the concept of a video enrichment project that tied the students’ philosophical learning together with their community service and artistic experiences and was shared with an audience of teachers and administrators in the form of an academic celebration. As noted by one Cleveland Municipal School District teacher, the fifteen chapter philosophy series that Drs. Kaye and Thomson developed is promoting the realization of the program’s mission by “engaging children in the love of learning in a powerful and exciting way.”

Dr. Kaye's Faculty Page

Dr. Thomson's Faculty Page

A few of the people contributing to the CCPP over the years