Prototype schools

A short list of folks we can contact at Dewey-oriented schools in the US:

1: John Dewey Learning Academy in Leecompton, KS, was founded nine years ago as an alternative high school.

Based in Kansas, but we might want to reach out by phone and email to get a sense of how these folks got started and what they are accomplishing.

"The mission of the John Dewey Learning Academy is to provide an authentic, nurturing, and academically challenging learning environment for high school level students that is connected to the world outside of school, is meaningful for students, and promotes their positive sense of community and enthusiasm for learning."

2: John Dewey High School in Brooklyn, NY, opened in September 1969. They list some interesting core principles:

* Students should learn by doing
* Students should learn at their own pace
* A student's education should be validated by his/her experience
* Grades inhibit learning and promote unwanted competition
* A classroom should be conducted by many teachers and many learners, not by one teacher and many learners
* If you give students responsibility, they will be responsible
* Students must be active participants in their education

3: The John Dewey Academy in Great Barrington, MA, just down the highway from Rachel and Greg in the Berkshires.

This one is a boarding high school for students ages 15-21. Their mission:

"We provide an individualized and comprehensive education for bright, troubled adolescents with a history of self-defeating or self-destructive choices. Our peer-based approach leads our students to high levels of achievement and inspires them to develop in ways that promote self-respect, maturity, and respect for others."

I found their FAQs helpful as a reality check as we continue to consider student needs when dealing with students with less privileged or less stable histories. Clinicians on board.

Age Group(s) of Focus

What student group might be best served by the focus of this school project?


Rachel: Rachel's vote for age groups: small (K ish) through middle (13 ish). Early education prepares students to get the most and best out of even the shittiest high school environments and curricula, by teaching them love of & methods for learning from any available resources. 


Jess: I think we may also want to include a preschool option as well. Children can be ruined before they even begin public school grades. 


Tessie: Ages 11-17.  


Phil: I THINK we decided we'll do ages 11-17 


Jess: "Preschool children, on average, ask their parents about 100 questions a day. Why, why, why—sometimes parents just wish it’d stop. Tragically, it does stop. By middle school they’ve pretty much stopped asking. It’s no coincidence that this same time is when student motivation and engagement plummet. They didn’t stop asking questions because they lost interest: it’s the other way around. They lost interest because they stopped asking questions." http://www.newsweek.com/2010/07/10/the-creativity-crisis.html