Educational method
The Sudbury Valley model of schooling has two defining characteristics. First, the students are free to spend their time as they choose. During the hours they are in school students can spend their time engaging in any activity they wish (reading, playing video games, climbing trees, conversing, studying, playing harpsichord etc.). The only requirements placed on them are that they must follow the rules and that they must do a chore each day (the school has no custodian). There are no required grades or evaluations, the idea being that every activity students engage in, they engage in because they wish to do so. The second defining characteristic is that the school is run democratically on a one-person, one vote-model. All the "day-to-day" affairs of the school are governed by a democratic body called the School Meeting. There, decisions are made concerning such things as creating, repealing or amending rules, all aspects of managing the school, suspending and expelling students, etc. The School Meeting is composed of all students and staff members (teachers) and since the students greatly outnumber the staff members, most of the administrative power lies with the students. This model of education receives a great deal of skepticism as it is very different than the other methods of teaching.
The Sudbury Valley School was founded in 1968 by a community of people in Framingham, Massachusetts, United States. In 2019, several schools stated that they were based on the Sudbury Model in the United States, Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Israel, Japan and Switzerland.
A Sudbury school is a type of school, usually for the K-12 age range, where students have complete responsibility for their own education, and the school is run by a direct democracy in which students and staff are equal citizens. Students use their time however they wish, and learn as a by-product of ordinary experience rather than through coursework. There is no predetermined educational syllabus, prescriptive curriculum or standardized instruction. This is a form of democratic education. Daniel Greenberg, one of the founders of the original Sudbury Model school, writes that the two things that distinguish a Sudbury Model school are that everyone is treated equally and that there is no authority other than that granted by the consent of the governed.
Educational stages are subdivisions of formal learning, typically covering early childhood education, primary education, secondary education and tertiary education. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) recognizes nine levels of education in its International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) system. UNESCO's International Bureau of Education maintains a database of country-specific education systems and their stages. Some countries divide levels of study into grades or forms for school children in the same year.
SciTech Campus of Harrisburg High school, located in downtown Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, is a regional math and science public school that attracts students from Harrisburg and neighboring school districts. Beginning with the 9th grade, SciTech Campus prepares students for a university curriculum, studying toward degrees in science, engineering and technology. Enrollment is limited to 400 pupils The opportunity to create a unified 9-16 curriculum is unique in the nation and represents a potentially replicable approach to bridging the frequent discontinuity between high school and higher education. The school is a federally designated Title I school. It opened in September 2003.
The Woodcliff Lake Public Schools is a community public school district that serves students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade from Woodcliff Lake, in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.
The Hillsdale Public Schools is a community public school district that serves students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade in Hillsdale, in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.
The Montvale Public Schools are a comprehensive community public school district that serves students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade in Montvale, in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.
The Westampton Township Schools are a community public school district that serves students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade from Westampton, in Burlington County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.
The Hainesport Township School District is a community public school district that serves students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade from Hainesport Township, in Burlington County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.
The Capital Area School for the Arts (CASA) is a 9th to 12th grade, public charter school located in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, USA. The School began as an arts magnet school, which was founded in 2001 as a partnership between the Capital Area Intermediate Unit and Open Stage of Harrisburg. After first moving through several sites in downtown Harrisburg, the school now resides in its permanent location in the first and third floor of Strawberry Square. Capital Area School for the Arts Charter School utilizes a 21st-century, hybrid model of teaching and learning. The curriculum is designed to meet all of the Pennsylvania Core State Standards. In 2013, the School received charter status and converted to an intensive, all-day academic and arts high school. CASA Charter School was approved in May 2013 for five years.
Virginia Beach Friends School (VBFS) is an independent life-skills and college preparatory day school founded in 1955 under the care of the Virginia Beach Friends Meeting. Virginia Beach Friends School has more than 100 students enrolled in three divisions – Early School, Lower School, and Middle School.
The Boonton Township School District is a community public school district that serves students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade from Boonton Township, in Morris County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.
Fairhaven School was founded in 1998 in Upper Marlboro, Maryland. It is one of over 30 schools based on the Sudbury Model. The model has two basic tenets: educational freedom and democratic governance. It is a private school, attended by children from the ages of 5 to 19. The school was founded by Mark and Kim McCaig after learning about Sudbury Valley School in Framingham, Massachusetts.
Gerald L. Zahorchak is an American educator and the former Secretary of Education for the Pennsylvania Department of Education, a position he held from 2006 to 2010. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Zahorchak worked at various Pennsylvania public school districts in a number of positions, including teacher, football coach, principal, federal programs director, strategic planning coordinator and personnel director. Zahorchak worked as superintendent of the Greater Johnstown School District in Cambria County from 1997 to 2003, when he was chosen to be Deputy Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education for the state. Governor Ed Rendell appointed him Secretary of Education in 2005.
The Philadelphia Free School also known as Philly Free School or PFS, is a Democratic Free School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Philly Free School operates on the democratic education or Sudbury school model. The school opened in the fall of 2011 and offers a sliding scale tuition to students ages 4 to 19.
Upattinas School and Resource Center was a private, non-profit school that served students in kindergarten through twelfth grade, as well as a homeschool resource center. Located in Glenmoore, Pennsylvania, Upattinas was a democratic school where everyone—staff, students, parents, and board—had the opportunity to participate in school governance.
Three Rivers Village School is the first democratic school in Pittsburgh, PA. It operates on the Sudbury school model of democratic education. Three Rivers Village School opened in the Fall of 2013 and accepts students from Kindergarten through twelfth grade. It is a tuition-based private school that offers a sliding scale tuition rate. As of Fall 2014, it enrolls around 25 students.
Commonwealth Charter Academy is a large, public, cyber charter school. The school serves all school-aged children in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania regardless of where the child lives. The Academy's headquarters is located in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
