Doug Thomas, Executive Director
Email: doug@edvisions.coop

Ron Newell, Learning Program Director
Email: ron@edvisions.coop

501 Main - Box 518
Henderson, MN 56044
Phone: 507-248-3738
Web site: www.edvisions.coop

EdVisions Cooperative has contracts with chartered-school boards throughout the state of Minnesota. In each contract, a chartered-school board delegates EdVisions Cooperative the authority to manage, or arrange for the management of, the school and pays EdVisions a lump-sum fee to provide these services. For each chartered school the cooperative then grants authority to a site team, a smaller group of teachers who are members of the cooperative, to make all the decisions at the learning site. The site team determines how the lump-sum will be spent, determines the learning program, selects their own colleagues, and so on. Each site team pays EdVisions a small administrative fee to receive payroll and benefit services.

All teachers have the opportunity to co-own the cooperative as shareholders whereby they can vote on cooperative matters and receive patronage dividends. Most elect to be associate members whereby they get payroll and benefit services from the cooperative but do not have privileges associated with ownership. These associate members remain largely involved at the site levels without getting involved in full cooperative matters.

See the 2006 profile of EdVisions Cooperative (see pages numbered 11-20) for more details about the legal structure, membership, governance, and management practices. Also, for school site statistics.

School sites served by EdVisions Cooperative

While EdVisions Cooperative site teams can employ the learning program of their choice, EdVisions requires that they generally use a student-centered model for project-based learning. At schools managed by EdVisions site teams, learning is student-directed and teachers take on the role of "advisors" that serve multi-aged groups of students, often on an individual basis. Students work with advisors to develop their own curriculum consistent with Minnesota's Graduation Standards. There are no courses, no bells, and teachers do not deliver lessons. Computers are available (sometimes one per student) for student research, data storage, and creative design. There are numerous opportunities to learn in and from the community. Parents are engaged as partners.