Avalon Mission
Through project-based learning and genuine community engagement, Avalon cultivates curious learners who take responsibility for their education, contribute to a more equitable world, and spark hope for the future.
Avalon Values
The strength of our school is our relationships: with our students, between our staff members, and with our local community. Community care and restorative practices are the groundwork of a learning program focused on inquiry, exchange, and self-guided exploration.
Every student who comes to Avalon has the opportunity to engage, learn, and thrive. We help students confront systems of oppression in their project and class work, and in doing so support them to dismantle those barriers.
Learning about the world starts with learning about ourselves - our identities, our histories, and our hopes. Project-based learning practices give Avalon students the space to discover their voices and their passions, which in turn give them the confidence to shape their futures.
Students learn by doing: by collaborating across differences, by engaging in community opportunities, by hands-on exploration, by self-guided research. Our staff collaborate with our students to create meaningful learning experiences that transform both themselves and their communities.
Students invest in our community and leave it stronger for those who come after. We take pride in improving our school through student-centered leadership. We build spaces and systems that support all students, ensuring that our school thrives as an institution of learning and belonging.
Avalon History
Approved as an independent, public charter school in December of 2000 under the sponsorship of Hamline University, Avalon School was created by a small group of parents and educators who had the shared vision of providing a different, more democratic learning environment for students in the Twin Cities.
Our founders felt that the traditional assembly-line methodology common in most secondary schools did not adequately prepare young people to become fully actualized members of their communities. In an attempt to meet these needs, Avalon’s starting teachers researched similar schools with progressive teaching models and political structures to find the right combination that would fit their vision.
After collecting data and visiting other schools with similar visions, the founders of Avalon decided to combine Project-Based Learning with a teacher-powered governance model. This innovative combination would later become the foundation for the Avalon School.
Community
From the beginning, Avalon has been committed to creating a safe, supportive community within the school. We do this by remaining a small community, and by promoting strong student and staff relationships through advisory-based activities, service-learning day events, and field trips.
Avalon students develop strong relationships with both students and staff members through our advisory model; students remain with the same advisor for the duration of their tenure, in both the middle and high school.
Ownership
Staff, students, and parents all help create and maintain a community that is reflective, adaptive, and renewing. All community members are learners. The school is run through collaborative leadership and shared decision making. This shared ownership and governance helps focus all stakeholders and fosters a spirit of commitment and dedication to making Avalon an ideal place to learn. Avalon encourages community-building processes such as circles and conflict resolution practices, giving voice to all participants.
Teacher-Powered
Since our school opened its doors in 2001, Avalon has proudly implemented - and continued to fine-tune - its innovative teacher-powered governance model, in which all of our staff members assume administrative duties and have equal authority in all decision-making situations.
While this collaborative leadership model can be difficult and time-consuming at times, it allows for Avalon staff to operate with full autonomy and equity, as we share ownership for the decisions that are made regarding our programming and budget.
In the beginning of 2005, we pulled two teachers out of their advisories part-time, in order to fulfill the roles of Business Manager and Program Coordinator. Since 2006, two teachers have shared the Program Coordinator role. This strategy allowed for a few teachers and staff to increase the percentage of time they spent on administrative duties and decrease the percentage of time spent with students without compromising their authority or decision-making power.