This is a list of some of the current and former

democratic school Democratic education is a type of formal education that is organized democratically, so that students can manage their own learning and participate in the governance of their school. Democratic education is often specifically emancipatory, with ...

s around the world. This list also includes sub-branches of democratic schools such as

Sudbury school A Sudbury school is a type of school, usually for the K-12 age range, where students have complete responsibility for their own education, and the school is run by a direct democracy in which students and staff are equal citizens. Students use t ...

s inspired by the

Sudbury Valley School The Sudbury Valley School was founded in 1968 by a community of people in Framingham, Massachusetts, United States. As of 2019, there are several schools that state that they are based on the Sudbury Model in the United States, Australia, Belgiu ...

and certain

anarchistic free school Self-managed social centers, also known as autonomous social centers, are self-organized community centers in which anti-authoritarians put on voluntary activities. These autonomous spaces, often in multi-purpose venues affiliated with anarchi ...

s that align with the broad principles of

democratic education Democratic education is a type of formal education that is organized democratically, so that students can manage their own learning and participate in the governance of their school. Democratic education is often specifically emancipatory, with ...

Australia

New South Wales: * Currambena School Lane Cove, Sydney NSW Victoria: *

Preshil Preshil School, also known as The Margaret Lyttle Memorial School, is an independent progressive co-educational, day school located in Kew, an eastern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The original Arlington campus houses the Kindergar ...

Kew, Melbourne VIC *

Alia College Alia College is an independent co-educational alternative secondary school located in Hawthorn East, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia . The school is built around values of tolerance, creativity, self-expression, respect and responsibility. Adv ...

Hawthorn East, Melbourne VIC Queensland: *

Brisbane Independent School Brisbane Independent School is located in semi-rural Pullenvale in the western suburbs of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The community-run school operates within a cooperative family environment. The school is operated and owned by its membe ...

Pullenvale, Brisbane QLD

Brazil

* Escola Lumiar (São Paulo)

Canada

* ALPHA Alternative School (Toronto) *

Rochdale College Rochdale College was an experiment in student-run alternative education and co-operative living in Toronto, Canada from 1968 to 1975. It provided space for 840 residents in a co-operative living space. It was also an informal, noncredited free ...

(Toronto) (closed) *

SEED Alternative School SEED Alternative School is a small Toronto District School Board alternative high school now located in Toronto's east end. Previous locations include Yonge and College, McCaul St, and Bloor and Spadina, in downtown Toronto. Originally, as a sum ...

(Toronto)

Germany

Neue Schule Hamburg Neue Schule Hamburg ( en, New School Hamburg) is a private Sudbury school in Rahlstedt, Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , ...

India

Walden's Path Walden's Path School is located in Hyderabad, India. It follows Cambridge IGCSE syllabi. The School is inspired by Jiddu Krishnamurti's Educational Philosophy. Philosophy The school is inspired by Jiddu Krishnamurti's philosophy and his life ...

(Hyderabad)

Israel

* Democratic School of Hadera (Hadera)

New Zealand

* Auckland Metropolitan College, Mt. Eden, Auckland--(closed December 2001) * Ao Tawhiti Unlimited Discovery, Christchurch (This is NOT a democratic school but it is a special character school. Their educational principles are very democratic, but they still have grades, exams and a curriculum. The difference between a traditional and Ao Tawhiti school is that kids at Ao Tawhiti school choose the subjects they want to attend.) *

Tamariki School Tamariki is the oldest ‘free school’ in New Zealand and one of the oldest in the world. It was founded in 1966 by a group of parents and teachers interested in preventive mental health. It is located in the Christchurch suburb of Woolston. ...

, Christchurch

Portugal

Escola da Ponte Escola da Ponte (English: School of the Bridge) is an open plan school in an elementary school, located in São Tomé de Negrelos, Portugal, which was started by José Francisco Pacheco in 1976 and follows the principles of democratic education. Th ...

(Vila Das AVES)

United Kingdom

Currently Open *

Sands School Sands School is a democratic school in Ashburton, Devon in England. Background Sands School is the second democratic school in England which was started in 1987 by a group of students and teachers from the recently closed Dartington Hall Sch ...

(Ashburton, Devon) *

Summerhill School Summerhill School is an independent (i.e. fee-paying) boarding school in Leiston, Suffolk, England. It was founded in 1921 by Alexander Sutherland Neill with the belief that the school should be made to fit the child, rather than the other wa ...

(Leiston, Suffolk) Former democratic schools now closed *

Dartington Hall School Dartington Hall in Dartington, near Totnes, Devon, England, is an historic house and country estate of dating from medieval times. The group of late 14th century buildings are Grade I listed; described in Pevsner's Buildings of England as "on ...

(Devon) *

Kilquhanity School Kilquhanity School was one of several free schools to have been established in the United Kingdom in the twentieth century. Others include Sands School in Devon, Summerhill in Suffolk, Sherwood School in Epsom and Kirkdale School in London. ...

(Kirkcudbright) *

Kirkdale School Kirkdale School (1964 - 1980s) was a small, independent free school located at 186 Kirkdale, Sydenham, London, England. During the entirety of the school's existence it was run as a parent/teacher co-operative. Kirkdale is one of several free ...

(SE London) *

Malting House School The Malting House School (also known as the Malting House Garden School) was an experimental educational institution that operated from 1924 to 1929. It was set up by the eccentric and, at the time, wealthy Geoffrey Pyke in his family home in Cam ...

(Cambridge) *

Rowen House School Rowen House was an independent British boarding school founded in 1979 in Belper, Derbyshire. The name was not a misspelling, but a reference to the Utopian thinker and eutopian practitioner, Robert Owen. This "educational experiment" used the ...

(Belper) *

Risinghill School Risinghill School was a progressive co-educational comprehensive school, comprehensive secondary school that opened in Islington, north London, on 3 May 1960 and closed four and a half years later. A book chronicling its demise made publishing his ...

(London) *

Scotland Road Free School The Scotland Road Free School was a short-lived example of democratic education and free-schooling started in the UK in 1970 by two Liverpool teachers, John Ord and Bill Murphy. The latter went on to initiate a closely linked project, Liverpo ...

(Liverpool) *

The Small School The Small School was a coeducational private school for children ages 11–16, located in Hartland, Devon, England, that closed in 2016. History Satish Kumar, who also founded ''Resurgence'' magazine, lived in the rural village, and did not ...

(Hartland, Devon) *

The Family School The Family School at Larkhall was a small, alternative school, based in South London, UK, founded by Polly Griffiths in 2007/8 to offer a Democratic education model to primary age children. The school closed in December 2012. The Family Scho ...

(SW London)

United States

California *

Deep Springs College Deep Springs College (known simply as Deep Springs or DS) is a private, selective two-year college in Deep Springs, California. With the number of undergraduates restricted to 26, the college is one of the smallest institutions of higher educat ...

(Deep Springs) Illinois *

Shimer College Shimer Great Books School (pronounced ) is a Classic_book#University_programs, Great Books college that is part of North Central College in Naperville, Illinois. Prior to 2017, Shimer was an independent, accredited college on the south side of ...

(Chicago) Maine * Liberty School (Blue Hill, Maine) Maryland * Fairhaven School (Upper Marlboro) Massachusetts * The Group School, Cambridge, Massachusetts *

Mission Hill School The Mission Hill School was a small preK–8 public pilot school in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1997 by Deborah Meier, Elizabeth Knox Taylor, and colleagues, the school was administered by the Boston Pub ...

(Framingham) * Warehouse Cooperative School New York * Brooklyn Free School,

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, f. 2004 * Albany Free School (Albany) *

Lehman Alternative Community School The Lehman Alternative Community School (LACS) is a public, alternative, combined middle and high school in the Ithaca City School District in Ithaca, New York. The school serves grades 6–12 with approximately 305 students. History In 1974, p ...

(Ithaca) North Carolina *

Arthur Morgan School Celo Community, Incorporated ( ) is a communal settlement in the Western mountains of North Carolina, United States, located in the South Toe River valley of Yancey County, North Carolina, Yancey County, between the Unincorporated area, unincorpora ...

(Burnsville) Ohio *

Antioch College Antioch College is a private liberal arts college in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Founded in 1850 by the Christian Connection, the college began operating in 1852 as a non-sectarian institution; politician and education reformer Horace Mann was its f ...

* Antioch School Oregon *

Village Free School The Village Free School (VFS) is a 501(c)(3) organization, 501(c)(3) non-profit private Primary school, primary and secondary school located in Portland, Oregon, Portland, Oregon, United States. The school was founded in 2004 and enrolls students ...

(Portland) * Adams High School (Portland) (closed) Pennsylvania *

The Circle School The Circle School is a self-directed democratic school located in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and founded in 1984, and is operated similarly to the Sudbury Valley School (Framingham, Massachusetts) and Hudson Valley Sudbury School ( Kingston, New Y ...

(Harrisburg) * The Delta Program, a program within

State College Area High School State College Area High School, often referred to locally as "State High," is a public high school in State College, Pennsylvania, United States. It is the only public high school in the State College Area School District and is within walking ...

(State College) *

Philadelphia Free School The Philadelphia Free School also known as Philly Free School or PFS, is a Democratic Free School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Philly Free School operates on the democratic education or '' Sudbury school'' model. The school opened in the fall of ...

The Sphere College Project The Sphere College Project is a project to create a high-quality, financially accessible educational institution for adults. It was founded in April 2009 in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania to provide education to adults who do not fit the prevailing ...

(Phoenixville) *

Three Rivers Village School Three Rivers Village School is the first democratic school in Pittsburgh, PA. It operates on the Sudbury school model of democratic education. Three Rivers Village School opened in the Fall of 2013 and accepts students from Kindergarten through ...

(Pittsburgh) *

Upattinas School and Resource Center Upattinas School and Resource Center was a private, non-profit school that served students in kindergarten through twelfth grade, as well as a homeschool resource center. Located in Glenmoore, Pennsylvania, Upattinas was a Democratic school ...

(Glenmoore) (closed) Vermont *

Goddard College Goddard College is a progressive education private liberal arts low-residency college with three locations in the United States: Plainfield, Vermont; Port Townsend, Washington; and Seattle, Washington. The college offers undergraduate and gra ...

(Plainfield) Virginia * The New School of Northern Virginia (Fairfax) Washington * The Clearwater School (Bothell) *

(Port Washington and Seattle) West Virginia *

The Highland School The Highland School is a democratic school for day and boarding students in Ellenboro, West Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1981 by Charlotte and Steve Landvoigt. The school was inspired by the Summerhill School in Suffolk, England a ...

(Highland)