The last few years our school has participated in a “kindergarten forum,” hosted by the Coastside Mother’s Club of Half Moon Bay. When it was my time to share about the Wilkinson school, I passionately touted our individualized education programs and explained our systematic approach to accomplishing this with each and every student. Immediately following my speech, all other schools on the panel quickly added that they also offer individualized education.  In fact, throughout the forums all school reps took care to minimize any hostile feelings of competition and to show support for all educators.  But, as nice as it was to speak positively about all the schools on the coast and to treat all educators with the utmost respect, there has always been a part of me that believed I was being too polite and not drawing the clear distinctions that there are between our approach that of other schools.

The word that was left out in the comparisons to ours was a big one-program, which is a plan of action to accomplish a specified end.  The other schools stated that they have individualized education as well.  But, at the Wilkinson School we offer Individualized Education Programs for every student, not occasional individual attention.  Our system is unlike any other that I know.  I believe that the way we serve each unique student is entirely different than all schools on the coast, and most other schools also.

Tiered Education, (see our website), is designed to place students exactly where they are best served and where they are most challenged.  Our school helps each child thrive in small groups, while creating time for traditional classroom learning and one-on-onetime as well.  No other school, on a daily basis, rotates students through ability-leveled groups. In other schools students are segregated by age,with each grade level working uniformly on a one-size-fits-all curriculum for everyone in the class.  When modifications are made they are meager because the system and the ratio do not support a comprehensive individualized program.

At our school, no student is ever left behind, because of the constant analysis and care given to their individual program. Because of our small size, great student-faculty ratio, and holistic philosophy, we are able to manage each student’s ongoing program throughout the year.  Before the school year, the entire teaching staff evaluates the needs and goals of every student.  Each week our staff discusses individual student progress, concerns and opportunities. When a child struggles with social or other concerns, falters academically, or requires more coaching or support, we work vigorously to meet each new need or challenge.

Another key difference that makes our individualized educational programs possible is the actual staff to student ratio.  To be even more exact, the in-class ratio.  At Wilkinson, a credentialed teacher and experienced teacher’s aide or aides work together to reach every student during the key periods every day.  Our staff to student ratio in the classroom is unbeatable.  There are two or three staff per 8 to 10 students.  Other schools on the coast report lower ratios because each teacher may be supported by a floating or office aide, one that is not in the classroom.

This blog is not meant to cast dispersions or to boast, but instead to draw the clear differences that we offer in our individualized educational programs.  I truly believe that every school has passionate teachers that make a difference in children’s lives.  Unfortunately the system in most schools often does not allow for the deep, individualized experience that is available and thriving at the Wilkinson School.

“A Maverick in Education” - risky title, I suppose for my first blog, mainly because the word maverick may be associated with current political figures that the reader may strongly support or loathe.  I ask for you to divorce the word from anything other than the definition, “to take an independent stand.”  That is what I wish to do right now-take an independent stand on why education can be, and is in certain settings, excellent right now.

My graduate degree, a Masters in Educational Administration, will be complete in the spring of 2011, and the most salient impression I will take with me from this experience is how dismal the outlook on education in our country is right now.  At one point I was in a class of 25 professional teachers studying to be administrators and the question was raised, “Does anyone actually believe in your current school and is having an overall positive experience in education?”  Yes, I was the only class member to raise my hand. Public and private school teachers alike felt as if they were in a corner and that education is broken.

So the question is - what are the problems facing other schools that the Wilkinson School is able to transcend? I will focus on 3 issues: bureaucracy, single-minded thinking, and lack of relationships.

• Bureaucracy - excessive multiplication of power and “red tape” in administrative bureaus.  It is a fact that the larger the bureaucracy, the greater the number of bureaucrats, and the larger the percentage of funds diverted to support those individuals.  While fiscal waste is a considerable problem, the biggest problem in a bloated system is that there so often is little direct connection between superintendents, principals, committees, councils, boards, etc. to the students of the schools.  Decisions are made without a say from the teachers and students or without direct knowledge of the individuals and classrooms they effect.  At the new Wilkinson School we keep things simple.  The school is guided by the co-owners, who continuously look to the staff and school community for input and ideas.


• Single-minded thinking about test scores is choking education. Recent studies point to children developing at different rates, especially in brain growth, which skews test results and does little to predict future success.  Yet neither this, nor the individual’s circumstances, is taken into account when reviewing test scores and proposals are on the table to penalize teachers.  Whatever happened to focusing on a student’s individual academic needs and  guiding students towards successful lives?  Shouldn’t that be far more important than test scores?  At the Wilkinson School we utilize test scores as a tool to measure growth and assess areas of need in individuals and the school as a whole, but not as an end all.  Our approach is holistic, and the individual, not the test, is the heart of each child’s educational journey.


• Relationship is, in my view, the key to meaningful experience.  Other schools tout relationship and community, yet principals know few students, teachers are limited in involvement due to class size and the size of the overall school, and the philosophy of the school promotes competition over cooperation and inclusion.  At the Wilkinson School, graduates carry meaningful lessons they learned in relationships and as part of a community throughout their lives.  Our track record of life success is what speaks volumes of our legacy.