Progressive Education

Chance School is the only fully dedicated early childhood education program in Louisville, offering education from Preschool to 5th grade. Our evidenced-based Progressive Education curriculum is recognized for its innovative, best-in-class implicit instruction focused on inquiry-based learning.

 

Virginia Chance School offers rigor in a collaborative environment designed to build self-motivation, a growth mindset, and critical thinking skills with immersive nature-based learning for all students. 

 

Inside our bright, busy classrooms and outside on our magical wooded campus, students learn through hands-on discovery and group project work. It’s an ideal place for children to develop a lifelong love of learning and connections.
 
A captivating childhood education awaits...

 

The hallmark of a Chance education is how educators thoughtfully and deliberately develop the whole child through the tenets of Progressive Education. The curricular foundation blends the school’s philosophy with age-appropriate milestones, Common Core Standards, and guidelines from our accrediting bodies, the Independent Schools Association of the Central States (ISACS), National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), the Gesell Institute, and academic best practices.

 

Childhood is a continuous and unfolding process, and all children advance through cognitive, social, emotional, moral, and physical stages of development. All people benefit from positive attitudes about lifelong learning and living in a democratic society.

 

We live our philosophy by adhering to these key elements of our program:

 

Whole Child Development

We are intentional in supporting students’ growth in all five areas of development and facilitate their growth through an integrated curriculum that provides more meaningful learning than through isolated study of individual subjects. Teachers authentically assess students through regular observation, both formally and informally.

 

Learning in Community

Our purposeful, welcoming community rooted in mutual respect empowers students and adults to build meaningful relationships and to feel safe to take risks. Our environment instills a joy of learning by encouraging and supporting curiosity, discovery, creativity, and an open exchange of ideas through collaboration and cooperation.

 

Learning through Experience

We empower students daily to construct knowledge and understanding through active engagement, hands-on learning, and social interaction. Students benefit from making authentic connections and contributions to the real world.

 

Environment as Teacher

We create learning spaces indoors and in nature that promote and reflect students’ independence, responsibility, community, and ownership of learning.

 

Benefits of Nature

Nature-based play, open exploration, and guided experiences cultivate students’ environmental stewardship and strengthen their roots to their community and world.

 

Dignity, Respect, & Voice

We empower students through positive discipline, respectful language and actions, and acknowledgment of everyone’s voice and experience to make responsible choices, solve problems, be thoughtful members of their communities, and develop habits of self-regulation and civic responsibility.

 

Foundational Independence

We blend choices and decision-making into routines and expectations to help students develop a strong foundation of habits and skills. Students learn to value the intrinsic motivations for learning rather than depend on extrinsic ones.

 

Critical Self-Reliance & Self-Confidence

We nurture students’ strong sense of self and identity, which are vital to being engaged and having agency in one’s learning.

 

Teachers as Facilitators

Our faculty and staff serve as guides, supporting and challenging students to reach their full potential in all areas of development. We use inquiry-based learning to engage students in active, deep investigations that depends on critical thinking and values both what students learn and how they learn.

 

Honoring Uniqueness

We embrace multiculturalism, foster inclusion, and facilitate students’ discovery and acceptance of themselves and others by acknowledging and celebrating differences. We emphasize differentiation in the classroom to meet students’ individual needs; we also recognize that some students are better served in different programs or settings.

 

Celebration of Equity & Justice

We integrate social justice and anti-racism throughout our program, reinforced through service-learning projects and community engagement. We all grow beyond ourselves when embracing and including others.

 

Partnership with Families

We value a strong collaboration between home and school, knowing this partnership is central to the life of the school and critical to student success.

 

How We Teach

Learning cannot be separated from experience. Chance students learn by doing and collaborating. The core curriculum serves as the foundation, and your child’s interests and natural curiosity enhance the classroom experience and help us propel them to the next level.

From animals to seasons to other cultures … Chance students select and study themes that build on real-life experiences, which is a core tenet of deep learning and retention. Their studies crisscross from social studies and science into math and art. You won’t find desks in rows at Chance, but you will discover children actively engaged as they collaborate on group projects or select learning centers for hands-on exploration. We provide experiences that promote:

 

• pride in one’s accomplishments
• the desire to be an active participant
• the belief that one is capable
• the discipline to try and try again
• the confidence to take risks as a learner
• the attitude that learning is an exciting journey
• practice to making choices in their best interest while also considering others
• a growth mindset