This is a list of some of the current and former democratic schools 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, Belgi ...

and certain anarchistic free schools 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, wit ...

Australia

New South Wales: * Currambena School Lane Cove, Sydney NSW Victoria: * Preshil Kew, Melbourne VIC * Alia College 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 memb ...

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 (Toronto)

Germany

Neue Schule Hamburg Neue Schule Hamburg ( en, New School Hamburg) is a private Sudbury school in Rahlstedt, Hamburg, Germany, established in 2007. History The school was founded by Philipp Palm, who was the school's principal, his partner the German popstar Nena Ke ...

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, Christchurch

Portugal

* Escola da Ponte (Vila Das AVES)

United Kingdom

Currently Open * Sands School (Ashburton, Devon) * Summerhill School (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 "o ...

(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. T ...

(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 (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 po ...

(Belper) *

Risinghill School Risinghill School was a progressive co-educational 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 history in 1968 by becom ...

(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 School ...

(SW London)

United States

California * Deep Springs College (Deep Springs) Illinois *

Shimer College Shimer Great Books School (pronounced ) is a 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, with a history of being ...

(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 Publ ...

(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 The Free School is the oldest independent, inner-city alternative school in the United States. Founded by Mary Leue in 1969 based on the English Summerhill School philosophy, the free school lets students learn at their own pace. It has no grade ...

(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 ...

(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, between the unincorporated areas of Celo and Hamrick. It was founded in 19 ...

(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 ...

* Antioch School Oregon * Village Free School (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 Yor ...

(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 Phoenixville is a borough in Chester County, Pennsylvania, United State ...

(Phoenixville) * Three Rivers Village School (Pittsburgh) * Upattinas School and Resource Center (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 (Highland)