A Good Little School

An inspiring story of the student-centered learning that can take place in a democratic, caring school.

A Good Little School pays homage to Jefferson County Open School, a public school of choice with a thirty-year history of providing an alternative education for students in K-12. Chronicled in this book are the personal experiences and anecdotes of teachers, parents, and students within the school, and how their contributions make it unique. In so doing, these reflections demonstrate to others that there is more to education than conventional subject areas such as math and reading. Also examined are the ways in which the school preserves the core elements that support the students' best personal, social, and intellectual interests. These self-reflective accounts create a learning environment with humanity at the center, giving students the skills necessary to lead compassionate lives.

"It is not easy in this context for our schools to be places of joy, learning, and integrity to moral purpose, but this is what good schools are. This is why they need not only the support and caring of their immediate communities but also of a larger infrastructure that legitimates and authorizes the mission and importance of what they strive to do." — from the Foreword by John I. Goodlad

"This book layers multiple voices and perspectives about the Open School, its mission and philosophy, and, best of all, student stories of the School's influence upon them as citizens." — Rosalie Romano, coauthor of Hungry Minds in Hard Times: Educating for Complexity for Students of Poverty

"This book speaks boldly about education as a human endeavor in which all parties engage in education as a life process. This is a brave speaking up in the midst of powerful voices who insist education be a business proposition." — Sharon Solloway, Bloomsburg University

Carole G. Basile is Assistant Professor and Division Coordinator of Initial Professional Teacher Education at the University of Colorado at Denver. She is the coauthor (with Cameron White and Stacey Robinson) of Awareness to Citizenship: Environmental Literacy for the Elementary Child and (with Fred Collins and Jennifer Gillespie-Malone) of Nature at Your Doorstep: Real World Investigations for Primary Students.