This volume contains a collection of essays, reflections, and other writings (many of which originally appeared in several journals) on the relations among self and school and community. The first selection is an obituary of Fritz Perls, a leader of Gestalt therapy. The second essay, "A Social and Political Reassessment of the Work of Wilhelm…

This bibliography is divided into eight subsections. The first section lists articles on community schools and schools without walls. The second encompasses the effects of alternative education. Student attitudes, academic achievement, and parental reaction are some of the variables assessed in the articles in this section. The third section is on…

This study investigated the extent to which an environment based on interpersonal sensitivity, individual freedom, and abolition of sex roles influenced patterns of interaction in a small group. Two hypotheses were developed: (1) free schools maintain a definite normative and value system that influences group process among small groups of its…

Two radical teachers set up a "free school" in Washington, D. C. to offer an alternative education to disaffected, rebellious, bored, middle-class high school students. Some of their ideas work, some of them didn't. Their story is told in this book from the separate perspectives of the two teachers. In their first-hand account of the school and…

Summarizes recent work of the Montessori Teacher Education Collaborative Erdkinder Study Project which is starting up an Erdkinder community, The Montessori Farm School. Explains how the fundamentals for an Erdkinder plan are developed from children's actual experience of working on the land and from their integrated program of study. (JS)

Background: Phonological awareness tests are known to be amongst the best predictors of literacy; however their predictive validity alongside current school screening practice (baseline assessment, pupil background data) and to National Curricular outcome measures is unknown. Aim: We explored the validity of phonological awareness and orthographic…

This article presents Fairhaven School, located in a still-bucolic area near Washington, which operates in a way that would baffle many educators, much less the public. Known as a "free school," Fairhaven offers students a radical alternative to the demands of traditional education since it was founded in 1998. In this article, the author…

Examined in this document are four phases of what are referred to as the counter environment, a new system of beliefs and counter institutions to care for people. The topics studied fall into the general areas of education, therapy, health care, and utopias. Free schools are discussed in terms of varied definitions, historical growth, basic…

In this guide to alternative education, the theory and practice of the "free school" movement is discussed from a pedagogical and political viewpoint. The current state of free schools is described and four major types of free schools are identified: Summerhillian, parent-teacher cooperative, free high schools, community elementary. The political…

A free university is defined as a community learning center that connects people who want to teach or learn with resources to meet their needs. The free university for Man, located at Kansas State University in Manhattan, is described. (MLW)

The author suggests that the time a teacher spends in a classroom is an observable way of knowing how the ideals of the discipline are being implemented. The article attempts to develop an alternative position to the one characterized by four traditions: lecture; traditional literature study; correctness; and one path for all English programs.…

Vignettes from the Albany Free School demonstrate that successful learning does not depend solely on pedagogical principles. The key to education is learning how to learn; once kids know that, all learning becomes enjoyable. Because learning is a by-product of teaching, which is a function of relationship, cultivating good teacher-student…

An alternative schools "explosion" is currently producing a large number of diverse educational choices for parents and students. Alternative schools, or those schools that offer all students a distinctive choice of educational programs, can be classified by philosophy, curriculum, or governance. This report defines, explains, and…

The school described here operates on the principle that play for the sake of play, without unsolicited adult intervention, entails the acquisition of skills and knowledge. Sudbury Valley School promotes cultural acquisition in a manner harmonious with the child's biological self-education system, without age segregation, grading, or academic…

Mary Leue started the Free School, an independent, alternative elementary school in inner-city Albany (New York), based on open democratic education dedicated to the authentic lives of children. Other accomplishments include a community-investment organization, a magazine of alternative education, a magazine for empowering families, and a…