USASB - Unschool Academy of Art, Science, & Business

ean into the scholarship, expertise, wisdom, and experience of multiple educational philosophers, theorists, researchers, and practitioners, as well as our own personal and professional experience, striving to design and implement education from the very best ideas and know-how available to us - so much of which are currently unstudied or ignored. We are a school and we unschool. We have answers and we don't have all the answers; we have knowledge and we don't have all the knowledge. We welcome contradiction, paradox, conflict, and puzzlement. We question, we explore, we investigate, we research, we problem-solve, we create, we build, we work, we play, we collaborate, and we communicate. Democratic Governance. Teachers, Students, and Parents (the Trifecta of education) participate in the school community: its governance, decision-making, operations, advisement, and leadership. Unschool and Academy setting. Students from P-2 engage almost entirely in free-play and exploration. Students from 3-12 are self-directed, autonomous, collaborative learners within interdisciplinary, problem-posing, project-based, critical research, and team-situated real-world environments, with optional electives, sports, free-play, and work. Year-round, full-day, quarter system. (Each quarter includes two (2) weeks of student vacation, plus standard holidays.) Cohort student-teacher groups. Each student is a member of an age-level cohort which stays together with the same two (2) core co-teacher/mentors through all grade levels. (Free-play, most electives, some sports, and other activities are mixed-aged, non-cohort.) Teachers are Learners. We are all learners, and we are all teachers. Teachers engage in regular and substantive independent and collaborative professional development, research, and authorship. Quadrilingual Immersion (English, Spanish, Mandarin, Ebonics), plus individual home language support for all students. Teachers study the home languages and cultures of each of their cohort students. All teachers are multilingual; all students are language learners. Art, Science, and Business focus. Visual and Performing Arts (VAPA), including fine and graphic arts, music, theater, dance, film/video, sound/recording, and program production. Science, including physical sciences, social sciences and education, research, engineering, artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics, and other technology. Business planning and operations, including publishing, software and Internet, manufacturing, agriculture, construction and building, retail, the arts, sports, public services, marketing, and finance. Community and Teamwork. WE LEAVE NO STUDENT BEHIND. Self-Determination. There are no compulsory grades, no mandated testing, no prescribed textbooks, no required homework. Teachers and students are self-directed learners who develop curriculum within a broad learning context. Students do outside of school what they determine to do.

-Emphasis is placed on student self-directed learning, autonomy, and voice. Teachers are mentors, facilitators, coaches, partners, and collaborative learners.

-Emphasis is placed on free-play, exploring, questioning, discovery, self-direction, choices, freedom of thought and expression, team-building, collaboration, problem-solving, project-completing, communicating, and sharing ideas. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. We aim to foster an environment that genuinely encourages participation and engagement from persons of all origins, types, and abilities, and expressions of differing ideas and values. We will have substantive scholarship and broad recruitment programs. Critical Pedagogy. We question, we research, we offer ideas. We are unafraid of multiple points of view; we embrace diversity of perspectives; we honor home cultures and languages; we question common sense; we challenge dominant thought and power. We critique public and private spaces and spheres. We critique conservative and liberal politics and ideologies. We critique religion and science. We critique democracy and authority. We critique capitalism and socialism. We critique globalization and nationalism. We critique patriarchy and feminism. We critique business and government. We critique schooling and unschooling. We critique materialism and spirituality. Everyone has a voice that is heard. Everyone has a seat at the table. Everyone is a valuable member of the community. We are a community. We are critical. We collaborate. We care.