Category: News

Posted on by

10 Steps To Start Your Own Educational Alternative

  1. Visit a variety of educational alternatives: Progressive schools, democratic schools, Montessori Schools, Waldorf schools, homeschool resource centers, and charter schools, etc.
  2. Think about your own vision of what a good alternative would be and what would suit your philosophy.
  3. Decide what you think is the best way for your school to be governed, including whether you want to be a for-profit and own the school, a non-profit with a board, and how much decision-making power you want the students to have.
  4. Start having meetings to find out more about your local community, its needs, and what they want. See if your vision is compatible with it.
  5. Find out what the education laws are in your area, what the requirements are to start various kinds of alternatives.
  6. Decide what kind of learning environment you want and start looking for local buildings and spaces that would work to do that.
  7. Start looking at potential costs such as rent, insurance, staff salaries. Start planning fundraisers and looking for sponsors.
  8. Start recruiting potential students and staff members. Use relevant networks such as food co-ops, alternative health practitioners, alternative education networks. Use the media.
  9. Map out what the first days of your alternative might look like and organize a two or three-day demonstration program.
  10. Write out an overall action plan. Make sure it is clear that this is YOUR alternative and that the other people involved are simply helping you to get it off the ground!

The School Starters Consultation program is now open. It is offered between the full September to January School Starters Course and gives the participants full access to all the course materials but is unguided. The $300 fee can be applied to the full course. Go here for more info. 

Posted on by

Breaking: John Gatto to Keynote AERO Conference in August!

Renowned educator and author John Gatto has agreed to keynote the AERO conference in August. Details will be coming soon.

Gatto, who has been recovering from a serious stoke several years ago, has started writing again. He has a new children's book that will be released soon, "Snider the CIA Spider," and has been working on a revision of the "Underground History of American Education."

Gatto has spoken all over the world. He once rented Carnegie Hall to introduce people to educational alternatives. He made headlines during his acceptance speech as New York State Teacher of the Year by calling the education system "psychopathic!"

He said to us, "I will write something really good for you!"

Other Keynoters for the AERO conference include Dennis Littky, founder of the MET Schools and unschool expert Dayna Martin. Joanna Faber will do a presentation on her new book, "How to talk to Little Kids Will Listen."

You can still register for the early bird rate of $225 until Tuesday.  If you plan to be a presenter you can still register at the presenter rate of $175, which is also the student and volunteer rate. 

Posted on by

Network With Wayfinding Acadmy

Hello friends from AERO,

 

I am very glad I got the chance to meet a lot of you in Portland a couple months ago during the annual AERO conference. As a brand new alternative college it has been a joy to find other like-minded folks to collaborate with. 

 

I am reaching out today because we just launched our search for our 2nd ever cohort of students and I am wondering if any of you might be able to help us find some of them. Do you know someone who may be searching for their next steps?  

  • A high-school senior about to graduate who isn’t sure what they want to do, but are curious, passionate and interested in how they can contribute to the world?

  • Someone who has tried traditional higher education, found it didn’t work for them and are now looking for something different?

  • Someone who is deeply interested in something, but needs help figuring out their next steps in realizing their dreams?

 

We know a few of these someones too – and they’re students at the Wayfinding Academy. Wayfinding Academy is a new, 2 year, nonprofit college in the historic St. Johns neighborhood in Portland, Oregon at the heart of a movement to revolutionize higher education. We believe the current higher education system is backwards and our mission is to flip it frontwards. You can learn more about our program and why we started Wayfinding Academy here.

 

We’d love to talk more about how we can partner and together, introduce students looking for their next steps to the Wayfinding Academy.  

 

We invite you to:

  • Connect with us for a conversation to learn more about about Wayfinding Academy and tell us more about your organization!

  • Invite one of our team members to speak to your organization or students you may know who may be a great match for Wayfinding Academy

  • Share the invitation for our prospective student open house on Saturday, November 12th at our campus in Portland with any students, parents or community members who would want to learn more

 

Graduates of our program have an online portfolio to show the world who they are and what they can do, a network of support, their next steps in place, and earn an Associate’s degree in Self & Society (vetted and approved by the Oregon Higher Education Coordinating Commission).

 

Answers to many other questions can be found on our FAQ page, but we’d love the opportunity to tell you more about Wayfinding in person.  

 

I look forward to connecting with you and please share this message with others who may find it of interest.

 

To life on purpose,

Michelle