New private school to open in Provo

PROVO — A new Utah Valley private school founded on education-reform ideas plans to feature small classes and independent learning.

The Lincoln Center for Independent Learning — which is different from the Lincoln Academy, a charter school in northern Utah County — is scheduled to start Aug. 22.

The school, which is not yet accredited with any education-standards group, is for students ages 12 and up. Students graduate "just like a home-school student — when you're ready to enter college. That can be when you're educationally ready," said Gwen Dutcher, one of the school's founders.

Tuition is $25 a week, and Dutcher said the majority of the money will pay the teacher's salary and rent at the Provo Boy's and Girl's Club, 1060 E. 150 North.

"The teacher is the person who is in charge of this school and of the curriculum and how to handle problems," Dutcher said. "She's the one who knows if things are working or not working. In (public) schools, you have so many levels of administration" that teachers don't really have much of a say in how things operate.

There are no uniforms. And the school will hold classes only on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, students will be at home working on projects under the watchful eye of their parents.

"We're more project-oriented than worksheet-oriented," Dutcher said.

For instance, students may create a painting of life on another planet or write a screenplay about an event in world history.

"They have weekly goal sheets. The parents and children work together on this. These goal sheets cover projects they have for history, science," Dutcher said.

The teacher's job will be to guide students through their independent learning.

The teacher will seldom lecture to students — except once a day for a world cultures class, a combination of history and geography, Dutcher said.

The school will have about 25 students to prevent "unhealthy socialization where people break into age-specific groups and it becomes cliquish," Dutcher said. "It's totally artificial, where someone who's 15 is cool, where (someone who is) 14, 13 is a dweeb."

Dutcher believes the school will accommodate home-school students who want a different atmosphere and public school students "who feel trapped right now. Their learning doesn't match the mass school model."

The school's philosophy will be based on education reform models.