Long-View Micro School serves 80 children in Austin, Texas. We seek to challenge the traditional, antiquated assumptions and practices of K-12 schooling by providing children with an unparalleled education that sets a foundation for a lifetime of learning.

 
micro-school-students.JPG

Imagine…

…a school that speaks up and not down to the intellects of children. A school that communicates to students that understanding derives from activity — making, doing, creating — and encourages kids to think like producers, not consumers.

Imagine a school that doesn't close the doors after students enter but instead seeks to be open and networked, connecting students to their community and the world. A school that takes "the long view" by prioritizing construction of meaning, asking good questions, seeking connections, and considering multiple perspectives over consumption of information, rote practice, and shallow skill coverage.

Education re-imagined. For the Long-View.

 

Long-View is a transformative education experience.

Long-View Micro School offers 80 kids across 2nd through 8th grade an unparalleled education experience. We are not just interested in “doing school” and checking the boxes of all the trappings of a traditional education. We are interested in making sure that the elementary and middle years of a child’s education set the foundation for a lifetime of learning.

Long-View develops thinking skills, agency, curiosity, and investment in learning. We focus on constructing robust knowledge structures and facilitating the development of conceptual understandings that promote transfer and connections. We support children to be active participants in their own learning by explicitly teaching productive learning dispositions, critical listening, the importance of asking questions, how to take intellectual risks, the importance of participating in discussions, and how to learn within a community.

The culture of Long-View is not built around compliance and behavior management, prominent elements of most schools. Instead, we work to create a learning community. We recognize that all conditions for learning can’t be set by the teacher; kids must make contributions to their own learning. Kids and adults take responsibility for themselves and others. Finally, our philosophy toward homework, in-school learning opportunities, and out-of-school learning opportunities fosters a deep commitment to “driving your own learning.”

 

We have a focused academic footprint.

Long-View's academic blocks are: math, reading, writing, science, and computer science. The focused academic footprint means parents have the opportunity to customize the rest of their child's education. There's time after school for a specialized art class, a violin lesson, a favorite sport, or parkour. You know your child and his or her passions. With academics taken care of by Long-View, you can add in the right art, music, theater, or sports experiences in the afternoons and on Fridays and keep your child's week more balanced.

Academically, we focus on deep learning and thinking and authentic practice within the discipline. We continuously ask ourselves, “What is the hardest, richest version of this idea within this discipline and how can we bring it to the kids?” 

 

We learn in flexible “bands” instead of restrictive grade levels.

Long-View learners operate in mixed-age learning groups, which we call “bands.” Each band typically has a spread of 2-3 grade levels. Try not to think of this philosophy of mixed-age groups within the traditional practice of "the older kids help support the younger kids" or "the ones who understand a topic teach the ones who are struggling." Neither of these represent the philosophy of Long-View. Mixed-age bands allow us to let go of assumptions related to ages and grade levels and ensure all children are stretching toward the highest expectations. We don’t want kids’ learning put in the box, following the thinking “you will only learn 2nd grade math because you are a 2nd grader.” We typically teach towards the high end of the band (and “high end” doesn’t equate with “eldest” every time). There is no artificial “ceiling” on what kids are exposed to at Long-View and this is crucial to their transformation.

Our four bands are created in the beginning of the year and typically have color names (ex. “Indigo Band”). The band operates as a learning community across all subject areas. Bands typically stay intact across the year, but sometimes individual kids are moved during the year, as we are all about flexibility and we make changes as needed. Our kids are on an upwards trajectory and multi-age cohorts promote stronger learning.

 

Long-View doesn't look like your ordinary school.

When you step into Long-View, it feels creative and casual, and everyone is invested in learning. It’s collaborative. It is not about compliance and routine, but instead about agency and adaptability. The open, airy, and non-traditional physical environment fosters a feeling of community, where kids are known and where we don’t avoid the problems of co-existence. We believe that the best learning spaces are those that have been designed with everyone in mind, that establish a relationship between the space and the outside world, and that are flexible and can be reinvented.

Our urban location allows us to live out a desire to have “porous” walls and maintain a simple facility. We spend an hour a day at the park for lunch, walk to the university to utilize public resources, and make use of a large creek and grassy meadows for science experiments or poetry writing.

 

We don't adhere to a rigid schedule of 45-minute subject increments at Long-View.

From 9:00-2:30, Mondays-Thursday, we are working hard at Long-View. Unlike many schools, we don't waste time or spend our academic minutes on busy work. Most academic blocks are two hours long, and with 2 blocks a day we have an opportunity for deeper learning.

Our 4-day schedule is purposeful and though this non-traditional schedule can be a change for families, most find it to be a huge opportunity. Fridays are a time for sports or music lessons, for trips to the museum with friends, for projects based on a kid's passions, or some needed free time playing outside on a pretty day.

 

I believe that Long-View is the future of education—a place where kids guide their own learning, where they learn to learn, where they are taken seriously in their quest for knowledge.
— Parent of Long-View student
“Once you see it, you can’t unsee it.”
— Leader of education organization focused on re-designing schools