Founder's Introduction

Ideal Schools High School aims to show that high school can be interesting, relevant, and meaningful. School can be a fun and engaging place where students feel valued and capable, even when it is a rigorous and challenging place with very high expectations of what students can do. Students who are not sufficiently challenged, or who are bored by or lost in traditional schools, can find new opportunities and hope in the right school. All of this is possible, even though it is almost never available in traditional schools.

Formal education can be extraordinary and now, more than ever, it needs to be, or students will not be prepared for college and the professional world. Merely good is not enough, just as good grades are no longer sufficient to gain admission to the finest universities. We need new ideas and new ways of educating students so that they are prepared for a complex and competitive world that is very different than the world they know.

Only a small school that is creative and dedicated to innovation and excellence can provide the educational setting and individualized instruction students need to realize their full potential. A high school can challenge its students to achieve things they did not consider possible, while at the same time enabling them to feel good about themselves when they see what they can accomplish through focus, persistence, and effort. A high school can help students become independent young adults while also welcoming parents as invaluable members of the learning community.

For more than 10 years, I have been teaching and conducting research with the goal of creating a small high school that educates and inspires students, energizes teachers, and welcomes parents. I believe that formal education can be more than it is at traditional schools, and I believe the only way to realize what is possible is in a small private school that is dedicated above all else to making school interesting and relevant to students.

A high school must prepare students to succeed in college and in whatever they choose to do after college, and I believe a school can succeed only if it meets the students where they are, in terms of prior knowledge, and presents academic content in a manner that engages students and holds their attention. Furthermore, high school students must feel safe, comfortable, and important in school, and the school itself is responsible for ensuring that school climate encourages student investment.

What I have learned as a student, teacher, parent, professional, and academic researcher inform the curriculum, institutional practices and social climate at this school, and this includes evidence-based strategies drawn from educational research on best educational practices. But my experience is only part of what makes this school ideal. The students, teachers, and parents bring their experiences to the school as well, and their insights, values, and perspectives influence the design and practices every day.

Thank you for your interest in Ideal Schools.

Deep Sran, Esq., Ph.D.