Text of our recent informational meeting
July 6, 2006 7:00PM-8:00PM
Introduction
Welcome to all of you. I'm glad you came to attend our informational meeting for Shenandoah Valley Community School. My name is Sarah Diener Beachy, and I am the founder and director of Shenandoah Valley Community School. If you would like an agenda, we have them available. Tonight we'll be giving information about the school--its background, philosophy, and structure. You'll hear from our board and parents of students and other supporters; we'll talk about next steps for the school, and have a time for questions and answers. If you need to leave at any time during the meeting, please feel free to do so. Restrooms are located outside the doors where you entered, inside the library. We need to be out of this space promptly at 8:15, so I intend to end the meeting by 8:00.
Our school
Background
I'd like to begin by telling you why I decided to start Shenandoah Valley Community School and a little about my background.
Why I'm starting this school
Our mission statement contains the basis for our school practices, so I'll read it for you: At Shenandoah Valley Community School we recognize and honor each individual's intrinsic drive to learn, right to educational freedom, unique gifts, and responsibility to their community. We provide a setting where these traits can develop through noncoercive relationships, self-directed exploration, and participation in a democratic community.
This, I hope, gives you an idea of my core beliefs and hopes for SVCS. I do believe that everyone has an intrinsic drive to learn, that they do not need to be coerced or forced in that, and that the best place to develop one's gifts and talents is as an active participant in a community. That's why I believe Shenandoah Valley Community School is needed and will be successful.
What is learner-centered education?
Shenandoah Valley Community School is a learner-centered school, and I will be talking about learner-centered education tonight. Learner-centered education means that each student has the freedom and responsibility to direct their own learning. Students are responsible for deciding what they need to learn and how and when they want to learn it. Students in learner-centered schools are also involved in deciding the policies and regulations of the school.
My story and experiences
My interest in learner-centered education came first of all out of my own educational experience. I was homeschooled by a method now often called unschooling--I was responsible for deciding what I wanted to learn and how and when I wanted to learn it. I had no textbooks, assignments, papers to write, tests, or classes. I grew up learning from my family, friends, reading, listening to the radio, and the freedom to explore to whatever level I liked.
When I entered the teacher education program at EMU and began to do practica in the local public schools, I found I was dealing with very different educational beliefs and practices than what I had experienced. I began to search for places where people had had the same kind of education as I did. In my research I slowly began to find schools around the country with the educational philosophy I grew up with--that people can learn, and learn well, without being forced. I contacted people at these schools and took a semester off from college in which I traveled around the country visiting these schools. I found people there who not only understood my educational philosophy, but believed in it so much that they had started schools to do this! I knew then that this was what I wanted to do, to start one of these schools, to share this kind of education with others. Shenandoah Valley Community School is the result of those experiences.
Stories
I've shared some of my experiences with you, and now would like to give you a chance to hear from some of the other people involved in the school.
Board
Our board of directors is here tonight. I am the chair, Marcella O'Brien is the vice-chair, Ben Beachy is the secretary, and Jonathan Schrag is the treasurer. I'll let them each introduce themselves further and tell you about their reasons for supporting the school.
Parents
We also have some parents here who have agreed to share their reasons for enrolling their child in our school.
Philosophical basis
I'd like to talk a bit about the research basis for our school. Our school philosophy and practices are supported by learning research. Research on learner-centered schools has not been extensive, but research on effective learning environments strongly supports characteristics of learner-centered schools. I'll share with you briefly some of the information on learner-centered schools that does exist, then I'll talk about some of the characteristics of environments that support learning and how those are present in learner-centered education.
Learner-centered education studies
A 2006 comparative study of conventional and freedom-based schools showed there was "a correlation between freedom-based schools and positive school atmosphere, high levels of perceived autonomy-support, high levels of student intrinsic motivation and self-determination, and strong development of personal qualities such as self-confidence, responsibility, and compassion", and "higher levels of each factor for the freedom-based schools as compared to the conventional school." A 1983 study of "person-centered education"--another name for learner-centered education--found that students whose teachers used this method had greater gains in math and reading scores, fewer disciplinary problems, greater gains in creativity and demonstrated higher levels of thinking, among other benefits. Follow-up studies of graduates of the Sudbury Valley School, a democratic school in Massachusetts, found that alumni had little difficulty being admitted to higher education, reported high levels of levels of personal responsibility, ability to communicate with others, and passion for their work (Bennis, 2006). There are other studies as well and they reflect quite favorably on learner-centered education.
Environments that support learning
The results of these studies fit with what we know about environments where people learn best. Learning research shows that students are most likely to succeed in environments where they have control and can make meaningful choices, where they are in a mixed-ability group, where they are engaged in meaningful, real-life activities, and where they are part of a caring community. Learner-centered education provides all of these characteristics.
Anecdotes
People who hear about these schools sometimes say, "Well, it sounds wonderful in theory, but how will my child learn anything? What if all they want to do is play and aren't motivated to do anything beyond that?" I know many wonderful stories from learner-centered education that address that question. One was told to me in a school in Seattle: A 13 year old came to their school after being in several other schools, including one for children with learning disabilities, and all these schools tried unsuccessfully to teach him to read. He wasn't interested and didn't learn. At the learner-centered school he made friends with a group of students who spent a lot of time playing text-based computer games. Well, he didn't want to be left out and quickly learned to read the rapidly scrolling text.
I read another story in an interview with a parent that had children at a learner-centered school. Her son went on to a college that had a foreign language requirement, and he told his mother he was going to take Spanish. She said "You can't do that! You don't know what a noun or verb is." He said "Of course I do." She thought, "Well, maybe everybody in the world knows what nouns and verbs are," and said "But you certainly don't know about adverbs and pronouns!" He said "Yeah, I do." She said "How?" He said, "Well, looking things up in the dictionary when I was playing Scrabble." And he did.
These are both stories of incidental learning, and there are many others. There are also many instances of children deciding with no prompting, after years of play, that they are ready to move into the adult world and do what it takes to get there. There is a story on the website "Creating Learning Communities" about two boys in England who were homeschooled or unschooled. They spent their days playing, creating movie scenes with toy figures and playing computer games. Then when the older one was 14 1/2, he told his mother that for him childhood was over. He packed away his toys and both he and his brother decided that they wanted to get the English equivalent of the GED. They both began to spend their days studying and in about 2 years they had completed all the coursework, graduated, and began working.
The books published by the Sudbury Valley School contain numerous anecdotes about students deciding that they are ready to learn something--math, physics, photography, even one who wanted to learn how to do autopsies--and doing what it takes to learn it. I have never heard of an instance where students from learner-centered schools felt handicapped by lack of previous study. In the words of a 10-year-old from a learner-centered school in South Africa: "I told my granny I am going to school to learn to be a human being. Human beings can learn maths whenever they want."
Structure
We'll look next at the structure of the school in day-to-day operations and how decisions are made.
Our beliefs and practices
Our operations and practices arise from the philosophy of the school. Shenandoah Valley Community School is a learner-centered democratic school in which students design their own curriculum. We believe that each person has a right to determine what, where, when and how they learn. Our school exists as a resource and community for that learning. Each student and staff member will have equal say in the day-to-day operations of the school.
Day-to-day operations
In our day-to-day operations, each student at the school makes their own choices each day about what they want to do. Some of the schools I visited had a morning meeting where members could discuss their plans for that day--students could request classes, anyone could offer to teach a class on a topic of interest, and so on. I saw that working well and I plan to begin with that at SVCS. Other than that, daily activities would be up to each student. If you're trying to imagine what your child will do, think of their favorite thing to do during their free time. That will probably be what they will do at SVCS, at least initially.
Decision-making
Decisions at SVCS will be made jointly by students, staff and regular volunteers. Each person, whatever their age, will have an equal say in all decisions, including school norms and rules, participation in activities, hiring of staff, and so on. I would like to try both direct democracy--voting--and consensus decision making in the early days of school and have the school body decide which to use. Remember too that decisions can be reversed or changed--nothing that the school decides is set in stone.
Specifics
I'll give some specifics about our location, tuition, and enrollment options.
Location
We are leasing a building on 33 west of Harrisonburg from the Unitarian church. It's a small building behind the main church building that they use for their children and youth on Sunday mornings. It has one large room and two smaller rooms with big windows, two bathrooms, a kitchenette, and a large wooden deck. They have many tables and chairs of various sizes, and have generously agreed to share many of their materials including all kinds of art materials, books, puzzles, blocks and other toys. The church is going to fence a large area of the yard for us, and we will also have use of the rest of the 5 acres. We've discussed making a garden on part of it. I will also be seeking input from students on what other materials and items they would like to have at the school and look into purchasing them or finding donations.
Ages
We are opening this fall for students in grades K-5--approximately ages 5-11. We will take older students if they have elementary age siblings enrolled. We are planning to expand the age range upward as the school grows and eventually be K-12.
Enrollment options
We have full-time and part-time enrollment options available. We have a 5 day per week option for those who want full time school, and 3 day or 2 day enrollment for students who are either registered as homeschoolers or under 6 years of age.
Tuition
Our tuition varies based on how many days per week a student is enrolled, and there are discounts for multiple children from the same family. We also have a tuition work-off program in which parents can volunteer at the school to offset tuition. Our maximum tuition, for one child 5 days per week is $4,868. A family can work off up to $1,547 of that amount. A child attending 3 days per week would pay 3/5 of that amount, and so on. Our full tuition option listing is available on our website, or see me if you have questions.
Staff
I will be a full-time staff member at the school. Since we had so much interest from parents who wanted to spend time at the school, we made the decision to have tuition work-off program instead of hiring a second staff person. That way the school is more affordable, parents will be an integral part of the school, and we will still have at least two adults present during all school hours.
Next steps
Now that we've talked about SVCS, our philosophy and background, some specifics, and you've heard from some of the people involved, I'll tell you some of the next steps you can take.
Application
We have copies of our application for admission available here and on our website. Feel free to take one for yourself or someone you know.
Open house
We will be having an open house this coming Monday, July 10, at our school building. You are all welcome to come and see our facility, meet other people, and enjoy refreshments. I'll be there and be happy to talk with you further. Children are of course invited too.
Donate
We are looking for donations of items for the school. We have a list on our website as well as available here. We are in the process of getting non-profit status so if you feel inclined to give a monetary donation to help with start-up costs that would be greatly appreciated and will be retroactively tax-deductible when we get 501(c)3 status.
Volunteer
We are also looking for community volunteers to share their talents at the school. See me for more information if you would be interested in spending time at the school.
Tell people!
Probably the best way you can help our school succeed is to tell everyone you know about us. Word of mouth has been our best marketing tool so far, and we need more students to enroll.
Questions and answers
We have time for some questions. What would you like to ask?
Conclusion
Thank you all so much for coming tonight. If you haven't already done so please pick up some of the materials on our table and sign up on our email contact list. This is a list where I send out email updates about the school a couple times a month. If you have questions that haven't been answered tonight please contact me anytime and I'd be happy to talk with you personally.
Shenandoah Valley Community School
