Learning

Groups and Evaluation

When your child enters SunFlower, we make a commitment to your family that your child will be in our daily care. Our most important task is to to develop the confidence and self-esteem from which a love of learning and academic competence flow.

At SunFlower we believe that a group works best if it contains a range of ages. A child might be in a group for one or two years depending on where he orshe fits best for that year. We never consider that a child is "held back" or has "skipped a grade." In a given year, there are experienced children in a group who have been there the previous year. They know the ropes and can be extremely helpful to children just entering the group to learn the routines.

Is it hard to teach all those different levels in a group? Yes, it is! But even in one age group no two students have the same needs, interests and abilities. Because we change our curriculum frequently, a child will not study the same topic at the same level two years in a row. Rather, school for your child will mirror life as plans, methods, and projects change, develop, and grow just as your child does.

School for young children should be a joyous experience, one in which your child is free to develop on his or her own timetable, in a cozy atmosphere rich in words, interactions and resources. Since we have small numbers of kids in learning groups, no child is invisible.

Student achievement is measured through a variety of methods. Teachers provide constant feedback and evaluation to both children and parents. Children work to their highest potential for the satisfaction of having done well. Instead of issuing traditional grades, parents and teachers communicate regularly. We have a weekly newsletter, as well as periodic class newsletters. Children bring home a folder of completed work each week and conferences are scheduled as needed. Each student receives a formal evaluation at the end of the year. The older children take a standardized acheivement test to facilitate applications to both public and private middle school programs. Our children consistently score higher than the national averages.

Many middle and high school educators have commented that SunFlower graduates value and respect their relationships with their teachers as well as being leaders among their peers. We think that this is a byproduct of our child-centered and individualized approach to education. SunFlower graduates are prepared to discuss, question, explore and generally find out more because the satisfaction of working towards the internal goal of reaching their own highest potential has been nurtured and encouraged. We know this because SunFlower graduates and their new teachers tell us so often.