Presbyterian Day School

The Martin Institute is housed on the campus of Presbyterian Day School (PDS), an independent school deeply committed to sharing and leveraging its resources to enhance education for all children and teachers in the Memphis region.

Founded in 1949, PDS serves approximately 630 boys in grades PK-6th grades. With a mission of striving to glorify God by developing boys in wisdom and stature and favor with God and man, the school takes a holistic approach to education, nurturing the heart, soul, mind and body of each boy.

The PDS academic program centers on the development of critical and creative thinking skills. The school trains boys to research, analyze, synthesize, and connect ideas and subjects, as well as to develop the important skills of collaboration and teaming. With over 60% of its teachers having studied at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, PDS teachers are committed to aligning teaching and learning with the opportunities and challenges that the 21st century presents. The faculty and staff deeply engage the question of what it means to be well educated in the dynamic global community of the 21st century.

While the academic program is rigorous and the expectations are very high, PDS recognizes that individuals learn in unique ways, and the school provides significant learning resources, so that the school can bring out the best in every boy...and love and celebrate every boy.

Teachers at PDS teach in ways that excite and inspire boys and honor their energy, interests and unique ways of learning and growing. Classrooms are active places of learning, with frequent movement, much small group work, and extensive technology, including laptop carts and SmartBoards in all classrooms.

PDS boys consistently and significantly outperform their peers in all subjects at our nation’s leading independent schools in all subjects. They develop the skills, mindsets and habits to thrive academically at PDS and at their future schools.

The school's Building Boys, Making Men program, which we have shared with schools around the world, offers  boys a Biblical vision of what it means to be a godly boy and, one day, a godly man. The school is as deliberate about the development of a boy’s character, values and faith as his intellectual growth.

PDS is located on a 29 acre campus in the heart of East Memphis. The campus and facilities are among the largest and finest for an elementary school in the country and include $20 million of very recent expansion. PDS alumni constitute a large portion of the leaders in the Memphis community and beyond, and they include FedEx founder Fred Smith and Autozone founder J.R. “Pitt” Hyde.