Editing Sudbury Valley School

{{Short description|Private school in the United States}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}}
{{Multiple issues|
{{Third-party|date=September 2017}}
{{Promotional tone|date=June 2023}}
}}
{{Infobox school
 | name                    = The Sudbury Valley School
 | image                   = Sudbury Valley School, November 2016, Framingham MA.jpg
 | alt                     = 
 | caption                 = 
 | location                = 2 Winch Street, [[Framingham, Massachusetts]]
 | country                 = US
 | coordinates             = 
 | established             = 1968
 | opened                  = 
 | closed                  = 
 | enrollment              = 70
 | website                 = [http://www.sudburyvalley.org http://www.sudburyvalley.org]
 | age_range               = 4 - 19
 | free_label              = Philosophy
 | free_text               = Sudbury
 | free_label2             = Governance
 | free_text2              = School Meeting ([[democracy|democratic]], vote by students and staff)
 | campus type             = Suburban
 | campus size             = {{convert|10|acre|m2}}
 | faculty                 = 8
 | type                    = Private
 | annual_tuition          = $9500-$12000
 | superintendent          = 
 | principal_label         = Chairperson
 | principal_label2        = Secretary
 | principal_label3        = Treasurer
 | principal               = Maia Warren
 | principal2              = Luna Ekendiz
 | principal3              = Scott Gray
 | communities             = 
 | feeders                 = 
}}
The '''Sudbury Valley School''' was founded in 1968 by a community of people in [[Framingham, Massachusetts]], United States.<ref name=":0">Greenberg, D: Announcing a New School, The Sudbury Valley School Press, Ma 1973.</ref> In 2019, several schools stated that they were based on the [[Sudbury school|Sudbury Model]] in the United States, Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany,<ref name=GER1>{{cite news|url=https://www.zeit.de/2017/12/sudbury-schule-bayern-schliessung-scheitern-konzept/seite-2|title=Wir lernen doch!|language=de|newspaper=[[Die Zeit]]}}</ref> Israel,<ref name=ISR1>{{cite news|url=https://www.haaretz.com/.premium-the-one-school-where-pupils-can-fire-teachers-1.5279295|title=At Jerusalem's flagship democratic school, curriculum is in the hands of the Students|newspaper=Haaretz |date=2013-06-14}}</ref> Japan and Switzerland.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Geller |first=Karl |title=Geschichte der Demokratischen Schule |date=2021 |publisher=tologo Verlag |isbn=978-3-937797-91-5 |edition=1. Auflage |series=tologo academics |location=Leipzig}}</ref>

The school is considered a [[Democratic school|Democratic School]]<ref name=":1" /> and has three basic tenets: educational freedom, democratic governance and personal responsibility. It is a [[private school]], attended by children from the ages of 4 to 19.<ref name=":0" />

== History ==
Sudbury Valley School was founded in 1968 by a community of people including [[Daniel Greenberg (educator)|Daniel Greenberg]], Joan Rubin, Mimsy Sadofsky and Hanna Greenberg in Framingham. Greenberg aimed to create a school system that was just, psychologically comfortable, and self-governing with real-life being the primary source of learning. The school started the summer of 1968 with 130 students enrolled in a trial summer session before the school year start in September. During the summer session, there were two notable flaws: the smorgasbord plan in offering a variety of ways of information that the students could access if they wished; and the staffing. Of the initial 130 students, about half enrolled in the school year, ages 4 to 17. The 1990s saw a spread of the Sudbury Model throughout the US and abroad and there are now many schools based on Sudbury.<ref>{{Cite journal|date=2015-05-13|title=Alternative Educational System Sudbury Valley as a Model for Reforming School|journal=Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences|language=en|volume=182|pages=274–278|doi=10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.04.766|issn=1877-0428|last1=Valeeva|first1=Roza A.|last2=Kasimova|first2=Ramilya Sh.|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://sudburyvalley.org/article/sudbury-valley-school-idea-whose-time-has-come|title=Sudbury Valley School: An Idea Whose Time Has Come {{!}} Sudbury Valley School|website=sudburyvalley.org|language=en|access-date=2018-10-12}}</ref>

==Facilities==
There are no traditional classrooms and no traditional classes; instead children are free to do what they wish with their time. This may or may not include formally exploring academia or speaking with staff members or other students about academic interests, as part of educating themselves.<ref>Hara Estroff Marano: [http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/pto-20060424-000004.html Psychology Today Magazine: Education: Class Dismissed] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20130408080713/http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/pto-20060424-000004.html |date=2013-04-08 }}. May/Jun 2006.</ref>

==Curriculum==
The school has no required academic activities and no academic expectations for completion of one's time at the school. Students are free to spend their time as they wish.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gray |first=Peter |last2=Chanoff |first2=David |date=1986 |title=Democratic Schooling: What Happens to Young People Who Have Charge of Their Own Education? |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/443842 |journal=American Journal of Education |language=en |volume=94 |issue=2 |pages=182–213 |doi=10.1086/443842 |issn=0195-6744}}</ref><ref>The Sudbury Valley School Handbook. September 2015.</ref>

==Government==
Students are given complete responsibility for their own education and the school is run by a [[direct democracy]] in which students and staff are equals. The corporation is wholly owned and operated by the School Meeting, in which each student and each elected member of the staff has one vote.<ref name="sudval.com">{{Cite web|url=https://sudburyvalley.org/how-school-operates|title=How The School Operates &#124; Sudbury Valley School|website=sudburyvalley.org|accessdate=Jun 6, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Gray |first=Peter |title=Free to learn: why unleashing the instinct to play will make our children happier, more self-reliant, and better students for life |date=2013 |publisher=Basic Books |isbn=978-0-465-02599-2 |location=New York}}</ref>

==Staff==

There is no tenure at Sudbury Valley School. The School Meeting, with each participant receiving one vote, hires staff, as part of its duties in running the school. Every year, in the spring, elections are held for next year's staff. School Meeting members (staff and students) may nominate people to the role of staff. The School Meeting debates the school's staff needs, and discusses each candidate in turn. There is an election with secret paper ballots which is open to all students and staff. Staff who have received more yes votes than no votes in this election are eligible to receive contracts negotiated on the floor of the School Meeting.<ref name="sudval.com"/>

==Alumni==
After professor [[Peter Gray (psychologist)|Peter Gray]] published the first study of Sudbury Valley School alumni in 1986,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gray |first=Peter |last2=Chanoff |first2=David |date=1986 |title=Democratic Schooling: What Happens to Young People Who Have Charge of Their Own Education? |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/443842 |journal=American Journal of Education |language=en |volume=94 |issue=2 |pages=182–213 |doi=10.1086/443842 |issn=0195-6744}}</ref> the school has published two studies of their alumni (in the years 1992<ref>{{Cite book |last=Greenberg |first=Daniel |title=Legacy of Trust |last2=Sadofsky |first2=Mimsy |publisher=Sudbury Valley School Press |year=1992 |isbn=9781888947045 |location=Framingham |language=en}}</ref> and 2005<ref>{{Cite book |last=Greenberg |first=Daniel |title=The pursuit of happiness |last2=Sadofsky |first2=Mimsy |last3=Lempka |first3=Jason |publisher=Sudbury Valley School Press |year=2005 |location=Framingham |pages=342}}</ref>). There have, as yet, been no formal studies of graduates of other Sudbury schools, but, anecdotally, they seem to have similar results.<ref>Greenberg, D. (1996) [https://web.archive.org/web/20090408151232/http://www.educationfutures.org/outcomes.htm "OUTCOMES."] Retrieved on 2009-03-19 (see with Explorer).</ref> [[Laura Poitras]] is an alumna.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Greendale |first=Mary |date=2004-06-13 |title=Filming the ravages of war: After winning Peabody Award, Holliston native set to focus on Iraq |url=https://www.milforddailynews.com/story/entertainment/2004/06/13/filming-ravages-war-after-winning/41323563007/ |access-date=2025-01-13 |website=Milford Daily News |language=en-US}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Sudbury school]]
*[[Autodidacticism]]
*[[Alternative education]]
*[[Free school movement]]
*[[Learning]]
*[[Democratic school|Democratic School]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
* {{official website|https://sudburyvalley.org}}

{{Democratic schools}}
{{authority control}}

[[Category:Educational institutions established in 1968]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures in Framingham, Massachusetts]]
[[Category:Private high schools in Massachusetts]]
[[Category:High schools in Middlesex County, Massachusetts]]
[[Category:Private middle schools in Massachusetts]]
[[Category:Private elementary schools in Massachusetts]]
[[Category:1968 establishments in Massachusetts]]