Resources

Do you want to dive deep into Self-Directed Education? Do you want to stay up to date on the most recent news and thoughts from those making changes in the education system? Here are some of our suggestions.

Sites related to Self-Directed Education

• Alliance for Self-Directed Education

  "The Alliance for Self-Directed Education (ASDE) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to normalizing and legitimizing Self-Directed Education, to make it available to everyone who seeks it".

• Alternative Education Resource Organization 

  AERO’s goal is to advance student-driven, learner-centered approaches to education.

• Akilah S. Richards

  Akilah offers videos, podcasts, and writings about how social justice and self-directed education intersect.

• Freedom to Learn

  The Psychology Today blog of Peter Gray, a professor of psychology at Boston College who writes about alternative approaches to education and the life-long value of play.

• I’m Unschooled. Yes, I Can Write. 

  Blog by childhood unschooler and lifelong learner, Idzie Desmarais of Montreal, Quebec about  unschooling, reading, teaching vs. learning, respectful parenting and socialization.

• IDEA 

  (Institute for Democratic Education in America) – A nonprofit organization that supports and showcases democratic education settings.

• Challenging the Myths of Modern Schooling

  A website featuring the writings of John Taylor Gatto, a former New York State Teacher of the Year who is now an activist and public speaker against compulsory education.

Community resources related to police and prison abolition

• King County Equity Now

  ”King County Equity Now is a Coalition of accountable, Black-led, community-based organizations fighting to achieve equity now.“

• Community Passageways

  ”We create alternatives to incarceration for youth and young adults by rebuilding our communities through committed relationships centered on love, compassion, and consistency. “

• WA Bloc

  ”WA-BLOC’s mission is to empower academic, creative, community-connected lifelong leaders through high-impact academic and “place-based” social justice leadership development. Our vision is for South Seattle to be a thriving nucleus of Black and Brown excellence where community-based, intergenerational leaders Harambee [come together] for equitable transformative education and liberation. WA-BLOC achieves this vision through year-round educational programming that re-engages students in school, dismantles systemic racism, and disrupts the school to prison pipeline for black and brown youth in South Seattle.”

• Black Community Impact Alliance

  “The Black Community Impact Alliance (BCIA) is a group of cooperating organizations serving the Black Community in Western Washington. We make sure that taxpayer-funded initiatives and organizations that receive government money to work in the Black community are actually doing work to better the lives of Black children and families, particularly those with low income and the working poor. Our scope includes all elements impacting the well-being of the Black Community, such as: heath, education, jobs, housing, technology, safety, art, criminal justice, economic development, and the environment. We strive to assist the Black Community in creating and owning their future by educating themselves on how to access and manage resources in health, education, workforce, business creation and housing.”

• The Village of Hope Seattle

  “Our mission is to work in cooperation with other organizations and with elders, children, youth and adults to build and experience a strong and healthy community where people are liberated to live powerfully in every aspect of our lives.”

• Creative Justice

  “Creative Justice is an arts-based alternative to incarceration for young people in King County.”