Sudbury Valley School

The Sudbury Valley School - http://www.sudval.org/

From the site:

"The SudburyValleySchool is a place where children are free.''

Their natural curiosity is the starting point for everything that happens at the school.

Here, students initiate all their own activities. The staff, the plant, the equipment are there to answer their needs. Learning takes place in formal and informal settings, in large and small groups, or individually. All ages are free to mix at all times. The dynamics among students of different ages, helping each other learn about everything from human relations to math, is one of the greatest strengths of the school.

Students share responsibility for their own environment, and for the quality of life at school. The school is managed by the weekly School Meeting, where every student and staff member has a vote: an education at Sudbury Valley is also an education in hands-on democracy."

Sounds interesting, but how different is such an environment really from more traditional models? The essential idea seems to be that the students direct their own education. That sounds great, but I didn't have a problem doing that as an individual in both the Catholic and public schools I attended, grades K through 12. When I had an interest in something (photography, art, music, computers, whatever), I either used my elective periods for such study, or my parents encouraged me to do such independent study outside the school. I didn't need the "Sudbury Model" to allow me to study what I wanted.

Of course, there was a base curriculum that I had to study and demonstrate competency in. My biggest question about the Sudbury Valley school (and those like it) is how are the skills of the students objectively tested? Further, what kind of results do such schools have? If you follow the graduates and see how many went on to college or other higher learning, how well did they do in such environments? How many had successful careers? How many chose to send their own children to Sudbury Valley or schools like it?

Several studies have been done following the former students. The following book is available from the school:

LEGACY OF TRUST: LIFE AFTER THE SUDBURY VALLEY SCHOOL EXPERIENCE (1992) 332pp. By Daniel Greenberg and Mimsy Sadofsky A study of what has become of children who attended Sudbury Valley as they pursue their lives as adults. Based on a comprehensive survey, completed in 1991, of the personal and professional histories of 188 former students, the book also contains extensive comments on the effects Sudbury Valley had on their lives. Included are the results of three earlier, less extensive studies.

It might be interesting to compare the Sudbury Valley with a local school that I didn't attend, but wish I did. The School Without Walls was set up by the Rochester City School District 27 years ago as an experiment. It's more formal than the Sudbury Valley school in that it constantly makes objective evaluation of the student's progress. To graduate requires passing the standard competency examinations of New York State's Board of Education, completion of a significant senior project, and being recommended for graduation by a committee. Their home page isn't very slick compared to Sudbury Valley's, but it covers the basics. See http://www.ggw.org/schoolwithoutwalls/