Types of Schools

Public School: a school funded by local, state and federal tax dollars that accepts all students within its geographic regions, as set by local school boards, and that conforms to policies set by district, state, and federal legislation and standards.

Alternative Public School: a public school program (usually at the high school level) designed for students who do not perform well in a traditional school setting, featuring small classes and more hands-on learning activities.

Charter School: a public or publicly-funded independent school that is created and funded to offer different models and is exempt from many state laws and regulations in exchange for some type of accountability for producing certain results. It is part of the public education system and is not allowed to charge tuition. It is commonly led by groups of teachers, parents, and/or foundations. Often designed to test new ideas that will benefit existing school districts, Charter Schools are sometimes viewed as “going off on their own” and competing with public schools for scarce resources.

Cultural Literacy School: an independent school that is designed around E.D. Hirsch’s theory of the importance of teaching ideas, facts, issues, etc. that are viewed as essential to being a well-educated citizen.

Essential/Coalition School: a school allied with Ted Sizer’s Coalition of Essential Schools and designed around a set of “Common Principles” for teaching and learning.

Independent School (also known as a “Private School”): a school privately organized and tuition-funded that is exempt from many regulations of the public school system (e.g. able to hire anyone it wishes to be a teacher, able to discriminate in who it admits).

Magnet School: A school that focuses on a particular discipline, such as science, mathematics, arts, or computer science. It is designed to recruit students from other parts of the school district.

Montessori School: a school organized around the ideas of Maria Montessori and characterized by an emphasis on independence, freedom within limits, and respect for a child’s natural psychological development. Most such schools are for young children. Key elements include mixed-age classrooms, student choice of activity within a choice of options, uninterrupted blocks of work time, and a constructivist or "discovery" model, where students learn concepts from working with materials, rather than by direct instruction

Parochial School: a school affiliated with a religious organization that aspires to offer religious instruction along with conventional school subjects.

Waldorf School: Provides holistic education with an emphasis on arts, feelings, and earth-centered spirituality. Waldorf schools have long used the strategies such as whole language instead of phonics, stories and "literature" instead of factual history, and a strong emphasis on myth, imagination, guided imagery, creativity, movement (eurhythmy), and spiritual oneness with nature