Not a WS school, but nearby. There is at least one WS family with a child attending, per an earlier post in this blog...
Anyway, could someone provide input as to their experience? Do any of the graduates attend 4-yr colleges? Is the 15K worth it? Would a child interested in math/engineering find success via this model?
The school looks intriguing, but cannot yet see how a child-led education actually works. Please educate me!
My son goes to PSCS. He has been there four years (he is a 9th grader) and we love it! We have recently been exploring college options as that is his plan when he graduates. He is a math/science person, that is his focus and we have been very pleased with the education he has received in math/science. Last year one of the graduates ended up at MIT, two at a four year college in Canada (out of five grads). Email me at lena.mc at gmail.com if you want to talk about PSCS. I am happy to share my thoughts. There are three students in West Seattle at PSCS currently.
And just have to add - Yes!! It is worth the money. To have a son who loves to learn, loves to go to school, believes in himself and is surrounded every day by people who love knowledge and are passionate about what they do.
I'm Lena's partner - our son goes to PSCS ( http://pscs.org/ ). I want to answer your questions, and say more about our experience of PSCS. In public school he was starting to hate learning, his time filled with curriculum being taught on a set schedule, curriculum that he had already mastered, and teachers punishing him for not conforming to their idea of who he should be and what he should be interested in.
You asked, "Would a child interested in math/engineering find success via this model?" Our son is also very oriented on math and science - the school offers challenging courses in math, chemistry, biology which he's taking and excelling in. And we've had to stretch ourselves (!) to help him do his homework. Yeah, homework? I thought this was a homework-optional school? The homework-optional was one of the things that attracted our son (and us too) in the first place. But to take the high-commitment classes, as they are called, you have to do the homework or you can't come to class. That means doing the math or chemistry or whatever on your own time. Surprisingly many kids choose to do that. I would say that is almost because they aren't being made to do it.
Engineering… PSCS has engineering classes - they have great faculty, including one who's an aeronautical engineer, designer, and builder. In 2011 their "class" (student group project) won the Northwest ASCE (American Society of Civil Engineers) Popsicle-stick bridge building competition. No small feat - they placed first in three categories (overall, strongest, and most aesthetic) against 38 schools, many of which have hundreds of students. (See http://seattleasce.org/ymf/popsiclebridge.html )
You also asked how a child-led education actually works. Yes the students do exercise a lot of leadership, choosing their own classes and projects, and how to structure their own time. But I would not say the education is exactly "child-led." The staff of adults puts a lot of work into designing a rich, nonviolent learning environment that is full of many exciting, widely varied opportunities - in academic learning, but also in civic learning, meta-learning (learning how to learn, and how to choose what to learn), arts, and how to be a whole well-rounded person. Creating that environment is leadership at a high level. PSCS is based on the Sudbury Valley School methodology which provides a basis for understanding how and why it works, you can see more about it here: http://www.sudval.com/01_abou_01.html or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudbury_Valley_School . And here's PSCS's info on their philosophy: http://pscs.org/about-pscs/philosophy/
The staff puts a lot of attention and energy into maintaining the integrity of the community, creating a safe environment for young people to become themselves. The closest thing I can compare it to has almost been forgotten in our society - Aristotle's Lyceum ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyceum_(Classical) ). PSCS is chock full of learning, arts, and discourse that is engaging, exciting, and fulfilling to be a part of. Why do young people choose to learn when they can choose (for example) video games? How can they not choose learning, in this environment? The excitement draws them in. The staff are not only scholars themselves (from Yale, Duke, New England Academy of Music, etc.) but passionate learners across many subjects too and so model the behaviors that we want our young people to have in the real world.
Because students choose what to do and often how to do it - I have seen students whiz through a year of math in a few quarters, or go deep into a subject that they could never even touch in a public school.
And college? If that is what students want the school helps them get it. They know how to help students plan and present themselves to do what they want to do. As Lena said, they've had recent grads go to MIT and other great schools.
I value these concrete courses our son is pursuing, the knowledge he's gained, and the skills he is building. But I value even more that he's become comfortable in his own skin, with his own interests. And I value most that he is well on his way to becoming a life-long learner, someone who can follow his passion into whatever he is interested in without fear, someone who can learn by himself or equally well in the company of others, someone who thirsts for knowledge and personal growth and knows that nothing can stop him from being who he wants to be.
That's why I love this school. I'm happy to say more in email, over the phone, or in person, you can contact me at adamf at pobox dot com.
cheers
adam
Adam and Lena, sounds like an absolutely wonderful school. I am very impressed with everything you wrote, and will definitely explore this option. It's still a few years away for us, but I may contact the school now just to get a feel for the school. Wish there was something like this for the younger grades! Not all Sudsbury schools seem to be staffed with such highly qualified instructors, but I imagine it's essential for this type of model to really work.
Sorry for an additional post -- just thinking about this again & have a question.
What if a child decides to pursue an area in which the faculty have no experience? For example, a foreign language? Would this require additional funds/time from the parent in order to find a language instructor? Or are community resources utilized in some unique way?
Do you feel/worry that there are some gaps in your child's education? The public school system is stretched thin & cannot provide kids individualized attention, but to its credit, it tries to expose kids to a wide variety of subjects. If only kids could get both the exposure AND time to explore ideas/skills more deeply, pursue passions, meet experts, complete interesting projects, etc...
Also, you mentioned chemistry. Is the school set up to conduct experiments, do they have a fully equipped lab? And is there an actual chemistry/physics/math curriculum that the kid/instructor decide to pursue together? Or is it piecemeal?
So many questions after all...
Evergreen, take a tour. It is such a huge help. I've been on some that I can say were total mind changers. One school I was worried may be too snooty was the most genuinly warm school we toured. I was blown away. I left with tears in my eyes! Just because it felt like this is the place I want her. Then there were others who looked great on paper but not as much when you were there.
evergreen,
As cclarue says, a tour will answer many of your questions and more - you can get a better sense of the staff, the students, and how the school community works.
Re: classes that students want to take that the school doesn't have resources for - first, they do cover the bases on math, english (reading literature and writing), science (general, physics, chemistry, biology), history, and music. They generally don't cover foreign language.
So yeah, the school and parents have to find a way to get that taken care of another way. We're going through that right now with foreign language. If there are several students that want the same thing, the school will provide space for it, but the parents have to figure out how to pay for it. We may end up sharing the cost in this case.
For other things - like learning a specific musical instrument, digital art technique, or whatever - often volunteers can provide classes.
Re: gaps - no, I think our son and the other students are getting a much more varied and thorough education than they would in public school. And significantly, without the pain that comes with the public school bureaucracy.
Re: lab, experiments. They have a biology lab and chemistry lab. It's not exactly like a public high school, but it's sufficient in my opinion. Re: curriculum, they work with the students to offer what the students need. The faculty can teach the necessary courses required for college if they have an interested student.
PSCS isn't for everyone, but for us and for some others it's great! Definitely go for a visit and meet the staff, they are quite welcoming and friendly.
cheers
adam
evergreen wrote: Wish there was something like this for the younger grades!
Oh but there is.....
Seattle has lots of options for schooling. Sometimes the palette is narrow in the small private schools. I just enrolled mine at a night course at Shoreline..for a very specific course not offered at her HS. Physical plant is less important than the quality of the teachers and the parental support of the school. It's a new paradigm for parents, in that the total education package is not going to be filled "one stop".. private or public.
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