“Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.”

Learning is not confined by four walls. It happens anywhere. “Online?” Sure, we could say that, but that word alone is too narrow to describe learning that happens as engage self-determined learning. When we go for walk and think and plan and assess? When w create goals and assess our progress, use our hands, write rough drafts, take some photos.

We are an online platform, and probably most of your learning interactions will be online, but there is nothing stopping you from designing projects for yourself that happen in the real world. Indeed, as a school that is emphasizing creativity and art, much much of your learning will be doing things in the real world.

We all have different lives with our own priorities. Some students are laser-focused on getting a diploma as quickly as possible, while others juggling work and family obligations and school. You will be in charge of of your own time.

Self-monitoring our own goals is an important part of being a lifelong learner, and your learning contract will have built in target times and check points so that you can hold yourself accountable.

All learning will run through a project framework that makes us consider our own learning: what we ant to learn, how we will learn it, how will we know we learned it, and a self-assessment at the end of it all.

This sounds like a lot of extra work, but it actually provides all the extra air promised by a school called “Open World.”

Here’s the cool thing: this framework allows us to go anywhere with our learning: field trips, MIT Open Courseware, Google Certifications, Professional Training, Khan Academy SAT prep, TSI study guides, or independent study you can think of.

Whatever you want to know more about or get better at- we just create the learning plan.

We will help you determine you very own education plan. Our world offers so many ways of learning so many things, there is no reason for us to limit ourselves with a course catalogue. Even with the academic absolutes of English and Math, there are multiple ways to get college-ready.

Together, we will look at what gaps need to be filled for a diploma, what goals need what skills, and what some things you’d like to know more about.

We’re not for just anybody.

Our students are motivated, independent, and curious.

Our students recognize that learning is a lifelong journey.

Our students know that this academy is just a door, but they are the key.

After 12 years as a Texas public school teacher, I knew the time had come to create a new kind of classroom.

In order to ensure that I can personally nurture the educational outcomes of my students, I am capping enrollment at 35 active students.

I am Open World Academy’s state-certified Principal and Chief Learning Coach, and with the support our Math Learning Coach, I want to help a small select group of students get to where they want to go.

Our program than aligns with college entrance requirements: Our Math and English courses harness the open source test prep that exists for the TSI, SAT, and ACT exams.

As a private school not required to fixate on STAAR, and we are free to allow college entrance exams to guide our learning.

Instead than have a running average of your grades in a given course, we will keep a running total of points earned, the same way we do in video games or sports.

We’re able to do this because being self-paced allows us to take time out of the grading equation.

This has two big benefits:

One, it is very easy to see how far you are from earning a passing grade for a course or how much further you have to go before earning an “A.”

Two, getting a low grade on an assignment doesn't have to lower your final grade in the class. That’s up to you.

A low grade slows you down, it doesn’t take you out.

Yes, all staff are certified by the Texas Education Agency as highly qualified to teach in Texas public schools. That exceeds the standards that Texas has set for private schools.

TEA also certified Chief Learning Coach Cuba Lewis as a qualified principal.

An Open World Academy diploma is recognized by Texas public colleges and our graduates are eligible for federal financial aid.

However, we are a brand new school and until we have a track record to evaluate, accreditation is just not possible.

By July 1, Open World Academy will be a member of the American Montessori Society, and our goal is to begin the accreditation process within the year.

We designed Open World Academy as a place for Texas students to earn a diploma that prepares them for college admission and success.

Our accreditation will be a factor only if a student transferred back to a traditional high school. Your new school will have a process for verifying that you learned what you say you learned.

For the Summer of 2022, Open World Academy tuition will be $150 per month with a two month minimum.

We will also be giving a limited number of full scholarships to students who at the time of application indicate a real financial need.

There are no deadlines. You start when you start.

Also, you don’t have to wait for the end of the semester to get a grade. When you are done, you are done.

We will for the purposes of evaluating learning expectations we will speak in terms of semesters, but they don’t need to define when a course begins or when credit is given.

It’s an Open World, so a Learning Coach will help you choose a path that suits your goals at the time of enrollment.

However, there are a few absolutes.

Absolute One: Earning a diploma from Open World Academy will mirror the state guidelines that govern public high schools.

Absolute Two: Since we are practicing being an effective lifelong learner, all course credit will be partially composed by some key ingredients: intention, ongoing reflection, and self-assessment.

We will use project-based platform powered by industry-standard Adobe’s learning management system. This will give a place for students to see progress and to see what still needs to be done.

Absolute Three:
For Math and English, learning is designed to the build the skills tested on college entrance exams.

The most logical way to do this is to lean into award-winning online test prep materials, such as those offered at Khan Academy.

Some might be think college prep courses are more rigorous than essential, but really, when you look at what’s needed to be ready for the TSI beside Texas state requirements, there is really no difference.

None of the above is meant to limit what is possible. Book studies, opinion pieces, learning to code, poetry, logical reasoning, and so on are great ways of fleshing out your Math or English credit. We’ll help you determine where you want to focus.

Absolute Four: All students will be enrolled in “Pillars,” an introductory course in the core ideas of Open World Academy. This course will give you tools needed to practice lifelong learning and other elements of being an asset to your community.

But lets’ talk about where Open World Academy really shines:

While some students find the predefined structure of online learning resources such as the Khan Academy to be comforting, and that’s okay, we encourage students to take advantage of what is possible given that we are walking around with the entirety of the world’s information in our pockets.

The forms our learning can take is only limited by our imagination.

A Learning Coach will encourage students be independent in their thinking, and help them design a self-determined learning path that satisfies their curiosities about the world, on-ramps to their post-high school plans, builds the desired skills, and beats the pants off a textbook education.

Open World Academy exists as a way for students to be partners in their own learning. Most of us are The entire point of a project-based framework that is fueled by self-determination and curiosity is because we can pull “curriculum” from anywhere. Students could do a study of a pulitzer-prize winning book or do a study of a famous documentarian, audit a course from an Ivy League university, or earn a certification from a tech company.

It’s an Open World.