The success of Kirby Hall School results from the work of many hands and the wisdom of many heads. In 1970 when Dr. and Mrs. Howard F. Rase were presidents of a public school PTA, they saw that the major accepted effort of educators had changed from teaching basic education to remedial education for the increasing number of students requiring remedial help. Public schools were also precluded from teaching Christian-based ethics. Bright children were left to learn by themselves and there was almost an apologist attitude toward bending any teaching in their direction. Dr. Rase was a professor of chemical engineering at The University of Texas and knew the kind of development that was needed for a child's later academic success. Mrs. Rase had gone to eastern schools, Dana Hall and Wellesley College, and knew that her two bright children should be learning more than was available for them in public schools. Leaving the public schools, the Rases put both children in a private church school, but they were not satisfied with its academic strength.
The founders of Kirby Hall wanted their children at home and not in boarding schools and they hoped to avoid the isolation of home-schooling. They preferred a school with small classes in which their children were with other well-behaved and academically able students.
In addition to good academics, they wanted their children to be treated with respect. It was thought that if students were given recognition for their individual talents and strengths, each student would feel secure and approach the effort to learn with a greater trust of their own abilities and that success would come more readily.
Kirby Hall was to be a Christian non-denominational school. Prayers were said at the beginning of school and at lunch. The younger children have "little visits with God" or times during each day in which a point of ethics was made with a Bible story or a story that had a good message that they could discuss. Older students would study literature with Christian meanings.