Share This Page
Follow Us: Blog • Twitter • Facebook •

Teachers as Owners

In The News
"Teacher-led schools" have recently received attention in the NY Times and other media.
» Read more.
National Inventory of Schools with Teacher Autonomy

Chartered school contract and/or chartered school bylaws

TAGOS has teachers’ authority written into the school’s instrumentality charter contract (arranged with Janesville School District). Chrysalis in Palo Cedro, California as well as ConneXions Community Leadership Academy and Independence School Local 1 in Baltimore, Maryland also have teacher authority written into their charter contracts (arranged with Baltimore City Schools). This means that the school districts authorizing each of these chartered school contracts were aware that the contracts formally authorized teacher autonomy.

Avalon School in St. Paul, Minnesota has teachers’ authority written into its chartered school bylaws. Avalon teachers also maintain their authority because they have the majority of the school board, which is allowable under Minnesota statute. Valley New in Appleton, Wisconsin has teacher autonomy (for curriculum and program management only) written into the school's bylaws.

School Sites

Avalon

Avalon School prepares students for college and life in a strong, nurturing community that inspires active learning, engaged citizenship, and hope for the future. AVALON combines (1) a college-prep focus, (2) interdisciplinary seminars, (3) project–based learning, and (4) a technology component. T...

Chrysalis Charter School

Chrysalis offers a unique program that emphasizes direct interaction with the world rather than a textbook approach. It blends regular classroom instruction with options classes, service opportunities, and natural sciences field study. Options include art, music, video, jujitsu, and hiking. Parents,...

ConneXions Community Leadership Academy

The typical ConneXions community member, whether student or staff, is a creative, thoughtful, independent thinker, engaged in learning and willing to be a positive member of the community.

Independence School Local 1

Independence School Local 1 is organized around experiential learning through internships and field-based projects and around the natural consequences that come from real world feedback on your actions. Teachers and students use the city, the wilderness, and city and local partnerships as instructio...

Tailoring Academics to Guide Our Students (TAGOS Leadership Academy)

The TAGOS Leadership Academy (Tailoring Academics to Guide Our Students) provides students opportunities to learn and grow in a project-based, supportive, and safe environment where individuality and community are instilled for lifelong success.

Valley New School

The curricular focus of the Valley New School model is rooted in the concept that each person is his/her own best teacher. Instead of formal, subject-oriented classes, students develop their own learning experiences based on their interests and passions.

Closed and Formerly Teacher-autonomous Sites

Constellation Community Middle School

At Constellation Community Middle School the curricular and instructional focus is on Core Knowledge, with a firm grounding of the basics, coupled with development of knowledge, skills, and attitudes that will enable students to continue to progress on their own after they leave.

Patrick Lyndon School

As Albert Einstein says, human beings are born with the insatiable desire for knowledge. It is this innate sense of human curiosity that the Lyndon School hopes to capitalize upon as it strives to create the highest quality learning environment possible for its students. The school's over-arching go...