The twenties were a time of freedom and liberation for women. In 1920, the same year of the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, Miss Hewitt's patrons funded a private, coeducational kindergarten in six rented rooms at the David Mannes School of Music. Wanting the school to ultimately educate young women, Miss Hewitt resolved that her young boys could attend classes for a year or two before enrolling in one of the city's all-male institutions, many of which did not have kindergartens in the early twenties.

 

Since her patrons were mostly from well-to-do families, Miss Hewitt understood that parents might not wish their daughters to be tied to rigid academic calendars. The students followed a flexible schedule that imparted academic basics, but it was still uncommon for them to seek higher education. According to reports, parents and students alike accepted the directives of the headmistresses. While insisting upon manners and decorum, she never took a formal or remote stance from her students. Barbara Orvis de Zalduondo, Class of 1938, explained that everyone simply "loved Miss Hew; you couldn't help it."

 

As the school expanded in size, the scope of the academic program needed to meet the needs of the maturing student body. Addressing parents in 1925, Miss Hewitt acknowledged Helen Pankhurst for the "help and inspiration" given by the Dalton Plan. The educational concept consisted of four specific objectives: (1) to tailor each student's program to her needs, interests, and abilities; (2) to promote each student's independence and dependability; (3) to enhance the student's social skills; (4) to increase their sense of responsibility toward others. The emphasis on independent learning appealed to Miss Hewitt, and she soon created the Dalton Study program. Students would spend their mornings working in structured classroom settings and their afternoons involved in project-based individual study. Former teacher Dorice Taylor, who began in 1926 as a part-time English and history teacher for the upper school, described the school's curriculum:

 

I loved the school from the start. Although those were the days when "Progressive Education" was the thing, I don't believe that Miss Hewitt, trained in the English tradition, knew what the word "progressive" meant. Because of the small rooms, the classes were necessarily small and informal, but the curriculum was based on the classics. We had a good English program, with emphasis on Shakespeare. Miss Hewitt, who was born near Stratford-on-Avon, was a true Shakespearean scholar. We also had good Latin, French and dramatics, and enough math to help balance a checkbook or keep track of stocks. Miss Hewitt did permit chemistry and biology, but the laboratories were in the basement and all the smelly experiments had to be carried out on afternoons when she had gone to a wedding!

 

Despite her creative approaches to curriculum design, Miss Hewitt insisted on monthly tests to assess her students' academic achievement. Even as the evolving curriculum expanded, the school mainly offered preparation for boarding school, not for college. From past statements, it appears that the Dalton Plan had a rather casual application. Former teacher Mrs. Sides explained that students “simply had no afternoon classes. Everybody’s nurse or governess would meet them and take them home for lunch… The Dalton Plan was something we tried but it didn’t work too well.” The school’s flexibility was certainly one of the early defining aspects that parents found appealing. Mrs. Sides added, “If you didn’t want to start on the right day, because the country was looking too pretty in the fall, you could wait a week or something, you know… The parents loved it; the children loved it—everything was so unpressured.” To reduce their studying time, many students opted to receive attendance certificates rather than diplomas. Despite the fact that some students traveled for extended periods of time during the school year, report cards at the time acknowledged each student’s work and dedication. In June of 1929, nine of twelve students proudly accepted their diplomas and celebrated the first graduation at Miss Hewitt’s Classes. The flexibility of the early curriculum would soon change in the wake of the devastating economic crisis of the thirties.

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