Springhouse: An Exemplar in Vitality-Centered Education
This school did the near impossible; started a tuition-based school in rural Appalachia in one of the poorest counties in Virginia. Not only did this learning community sustain over nearly seven years, it is thriving. Given the lackluster state of education, that alone is evidence that exploration of this vitality-centered educational design should continue and that it should be shared with others.
A few things we have learned at Springhouse:
- When the design itself orients around vitality, so do the learners.
- The more steeped we are in vitality, personally and collectively, the healthier our community is.
- The longer a Springhouse learner participates in this vitality-centered design, the more they embody the learning community’s values after leaving school.
Springhouse is an example of vitality-centered educational design and is where all Education Design Labs are held.