Most Recent Posts

Educational Choice: the Real Deal

Submitted by bruce on Wed, 12/14/2011 - 11:09

Over the next couple months, parents in many Colorado school districts will have the option of applying for enrollment in schools outside their local communities. Known as “open” or “choice” enrollment, such programs grant families some degree of flexibility in how and where their children are educated.

But what if we didn’t stop there? What if choice became the very basis of education?

At Alpine Valley School, we believe that the best education results when young people are allowed to direct their own learning. Our students decide what to learn, when, and how. From this they figure out how to prioritize and how to manage their time; they come to understand who they are, what they want, and how to make their dreams a reality.

Wild, Free, and Intact

Submitted by bruce on Fri, 11/04/2011 - 09:30

by Kristin Luce

This is your school. You can do what you want here.

Last spring, when I arrived with my 8-year-old daughter at Alpine Valley School, one of the staff spoke these words directly to her. Within minutes she was running outside to play on the jungle gym. Moved to tears, I thought, “I am releasing her back into the wild.”

Like Zoe, the leopard-cub stuffed animal she drags behind her each day, A. took to the wild quite readily. She was born knowing this is her world. When she was four she passed a supermarket aisle, then backed up and yelled, “HI, EVERYBODY!” A. thrives on being respected and fully in charge of herself. Finally, she’s found a school that allows her that freedom.

Nowhere Better

Submitted by bruce on Fri, 11/18/2011 - 10:32

(AVS President and alumna Melissa Randles wrote the following in response to viewing the movie Race to Nowhere, a documentary about the stress that conventional schooling inflicts on kids and families. Alpine Valley School will host a screening of Race to Nowhere on February 24, 2012. Click here for more information and to get your FREE ticket.)

Naturally Amazing

Submitted by bruce on Fri, 10/28/2011 - 10:40

Testimonials are the bread and butter of Sudbury school PR: there's nothing like an up-close glimpse of the countless and wonderfully moving examples of what this kind of education can do.

Those testimonials are all the more powerful when they come not from students, parents, and staff, but rather people outside of Sudbury schools who, for one reason or another, have that sort of front-row-seat encounter with our students and alumni.

Wounded By School

Submitted by bruce on Fri, 07/15/2011 - 15:17

A specialist in developmental and evolutionary psychology, Boston College professor Peter Gray maintains a blog at the Psychology Today website entitled "Freedom to Learn." Since July 2008, "Freedom to Learn" has focused on children's instinctive drives to play and explore, and "ways by which we could create learning environments that optimize rather than repress them."

When Teaching Backfires

Submitted by bruce on Thu, 09/01/2011 - 13:12

In the steady stream of education articles that passes my way, I occasionally encounter a true gem. This past March, developmental scientist Alison Gopnik wrote on Slate.com of two studies that suggest pushing academic instruction “really can limit young children’s learning.”

In each study, groups of preschool children were shown a new toy: in one group, the adult who introduced the toy did so in a limited, open-ended manner; the other adult took a much more directive approach. Both times, the children given less instruction demonstrated greater curiosity and discovered more and better ways of uncovering the properties of the toy.

Problem-Solving is No Problem for AVS Alum

Submitted by bruce on Thu, 06/23/2011 - 14:05

On June 8, 2011, Alpine Valley alumnus Andreas Suter spoke to about twenty people at the school about his current job—how he found and settled into it, and how his time at AVS prepared him to stand out as a successful employee. The following is an adaptation of notes taken by one of the attendees.

Through the Eyes of an Artist

Submitted by bruce on Tue, 06/07/2011 - 10:48

At Alpine Valley School, students are free to pursue their passions; over time, they come to know those pursuits extremely well. As evidence, here is an excerpt from the graduation thesis of a recent AVS alumna. Not only is she an accomplished young artist, but by developing her art over several years as an Alpine Valley student, she comprehends what it means to view the world artistically...

A Parental Perspective

Submitted by bruce on Thu, 05/26/2011 - 09:34

"I chose this school because...I wanted [my son] to know what makes him happy, and to follow his interests. I didn't want his natural curiosity dulled by school, and it hasn't been."

Clearwater School parent Amanda Klein just posted to the Offbeat Mama blog a post entitled Trusting my child to choose his own adventure: democratic unschooling in action. In a relatively short space, Klein paints a clear, vivid portrait of what Sudbury schooling looks like from a parent's point of view.

Grades: Grating and Degrading

Submitted by bruce on Wed, 03/09/2011 - 12:34

I spent some time at school yesterday critiquing a thesis draft, and afterward found myself reflecting on the difference between this experience and my years of grading papers as a high school teacher. (For those unfamiliar with the process, diploma candidates at Alpine Valley prepare a series of written and oral presentations defending the thesis that they've taken responsibility for preparing themselves to be effective adults.)

4501 Parfet Street, Wheat Ridge, CO 80033 (303) 271-0525 info@alpinevalleyschool.com