What is a Human Being?

By Charles Burkam, JD

As a part of the newly enacted membership process of the Alliance for Public Waldorf Education, Schools must do a self-study based upon the 7 Core Principles of the Alliance. Principle One states that “Public Waldorf education is founded on a coherent image of the developing human being.” So what is that “coherent image?”

Golden Valley Charter School of Sacramento

Unpacking the Academic Performance Index (API)

In Waldorf education slow and steady wins the race. That is, if we consider that our children are in a race, which of course, they are not. Although, in mainstream education it very much looks like a race requiring children to reach benchmarks and demonstrate on standards based tests that they know a particular body of knowledge at a predetermined time. Unfortunately, this approach fails to take into account those children who learn at a slower rate or attend a school where the standards do not align with the Standards being tested. We in Waldorf education base our curriculum and teaching methodology on the premise that from birth to adulthood, children’s development follows a predictable process of maturing – intellectually, emotionally and physically. It is our role as parents and educators to help our children navigate the stages of childhood in such a way that they are allowed to fully reap the benefits of each developmental stage while addressing the needs of individual children who mature at a faster or slower rate. In doing this, we believe that all students will reach their highest potential.

Waldorf Education in Public Schools

Educators adopt—and adapt—this developmental, arts-rich approach

By LAURA PAPPANO

Growing a Waldorf-Inspired Approach in a Public School District

By Diane Friedlaender, Kyle Beckham, Xinhua Zheng, and Linda Darling-Hammond

Growing a Waldorf-Inspired Approach in a Public School District documents the practices and outcomes of Alice Birney, a Waldorf-Inspired School in Sacramento City Unified School District (SCUSD). This study highlights how such a school addresses students’ academic, social, emotional, physical, and creative development. Birney students outperform similar students in SCUSD on several behavioral and academic measures. The study also examines how a district supports alternative models of education while working to ensure equitable access to a high quality education for all its students. This study provides an opportunity to learn from alternative approaches to schooling to help surface deeply embedded, often unchallenged, assumptions about public education and expand our understanding of the purpose of education and the practices that support the development of the whole child and deep student learning in public schools.

A Charter School Perspective

By Donald Samson

Is it possible for a public Waldorf charter school to reflect the same depth, joy, magic and artistic as well as academic excellence as a private Waldorf School? Can a public charter develop a classroom culture that is equal in its manifold layers to what we find in the private sector?

Can public charter teachers take on the mantle of the Waldorf teacher with its demanding, yet rich inner life and equally demanding active outer life? Although many think that the jury is still out, those of us who work in these public charter schools would reply with a resounding Yes!

Why Limit Screen Time?

Research Supports Screen Time Limitations for Young Children

By Patti Connolly and Diana Graber

Our digital environment is a vast and changing frontier that requires our innovative, analytical, and moral participation. Public Waldorf charter schools agree with child developmental psychologists, such as Howard Gardner and Jane Healy, who state that the students of today need to develop critical, ethical and creative thinking skills along with social cognition to become democratic and active participants in the transforming virtual world of technology (Gardner, 2011; Healy, 1998). Children develop these skills over time as the different areas of the brain mature and must develop them through real relationships with others. Waiting to teach technological literacy until Grade 6 and limiting screen time are essential for the gradual unfolding of cognitive and social emotional capacities that allow them to become responsible citizens in the “faceless” world of technology (Graber, 2013; Anderson, 2013).