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.

John Dewey Director of the Urban Education Institute

Someone to interview:

Dr. Timothy Knowles serves as John Dewey director of the University of Chicago Urban Education Institute (UEI). UEI is dedicated to addressing the question, how can we reliably produce excellent schooling for children growing up in urban America? UEI addresses this question in four ways: by undertaking rigorous applied research lead by the Consortium on Chicago School Research; developing urban teachers and leaders; operating and supporting PreK-12th grade schools; and designing scalable tools and ideas to improve teaching, learning and leadership.

During his tenure at the University of Chicago, UEI has initiated the creation of 20 new schools across Chicago’s south side, four of which are designed and operated directly by the University of Chicago. This portfolio of schools is designed to serve as an existence proof that poor children can learn at high levels. The schools also serve as a locus for developing new methodologies for training aspiring, new and veteran teachers and school leaders.

Prior to coming to Chicago, Knowles served as deputy superintendent for Teaching and Learning at the Boston Public Schools. While in Boston he created two organizations devoted to building the pipeline of high quality teachers and school leaders for Boston Public Schools and served as co-director of the Boston Annenberg Challenge, a nationally recognized effort to improve literacy instruction.

Prior to his work in Boston he founded and directed a full-service K-8 school in Bedford-Stuyvesant, New York City. He also served as the founding director of Teach for America in New York City, and a teacher of African History in Botswana.

He has written and spoken extensively on the topics of school leadership, teacher quality, school reform, and accountability in public schools.

He received his B.A. in anthropology and African history from Oberlin College and an M.A. and doctorate from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Contact info at the link above. I wonder if anyone at the Boston Foundation might put us in touch? I'm going to reach out today and see what happens.