Marlborough School is an independent college-preparatory secondary school for girls in grades 7 through 12 at 250 South Rossmore Avenue in the Hancock Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. Marlborough was founded in 1889 by New England educator Mary Caswell and is the oldest independent girls' school in Southern California. In 2016, Town & Country magazine ranked Marlborough as the "best girls' school in America."

History

Mary S. Caswell, a young teacher from Maine, founded Marlborough in 1889 as "St. Margaret's School for Girls". One year later, in 1890, the school moved from Pasadena to the city of Los Angeles. On October 1, 1890, the school opened at the corner of 23rd and Scarff Streets in the West Adams district. Occupying the empty Marlborough Hotel, the school adopted the name of its new location and was renamed the "Marlborough School for Girls". In 1916, Mrs. Caswell purchased land in the newly opened La Brea tract at a cost of $70,000. After 26 years in the West Adams district, the Marlborough School moved to Hancock Park and opened at its current site on the corner of Third Street and Rossmore Avenue. Caswell led the school until 1924, when Ada Blake (recruited from Louisville Collegiate School) assumed its leadership. Blake expanded the curriculum substantially and the School gained a reputation for providing young women with an uncommonly rigorous education. By the 1960s, the School was supported by a foundation and an active board of trustees, who hired William Pereira and Associates to design new buildings. The Los Angeles business community actively supported the school in the latter half of the 20th century, with local titans including Robert H. Ahmanson and Charlie Munger donating generously. In 2014, a sexual misconduct investigation resulted in the imprisonment of a former teacher. In 2015, Dr. Priscilla Sands was named head of school. Sands came to Marlborough after a career at the Agnes Irwin School and the Springside Chestnut Hill Academy, both independent schools in the Philadelphia area. In 2022, Jennifer Ciccarelli became the head of school after serving in the same role at the Columbus School for Girls in Columbus, Ohio.

Academics

The student-to-teacher ratio at Marlborough School is approximately 8:1, lower than the national high school average of 11:1 and the public school average of 16:1. This ratio enables Marlborough to offer over 156 courses. Over 80% of faculty members have more than ten years of teaching experience and almost 90% have advanced degrees. In recent years, the most popular postgraduate destinations for Marlborough women include a mix of elite private and "public ivy" institutions. Marlborough ranked sixth in the nation among high schools with the highest standardized test scores according to Business Insider in 2014. Recent guest speakers at Marlborough include Queen Rania of Jordan, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, historian Edward L. Ayers, Nobel Prize Laureate Leymah Gbowee, and producer/actor Mindy Kaling.

Notable alumnae

Notable faculty and staff

Pop culture mentions

Marlborough has been mentioned in the shows Ray Donovan and Red Band Society.