Annual Performance Report · 2025
Measured freedom.
Nine years of data from a school where children set the agenda. Every figure below is drawn from our public annual report — independently reviewed, deliberately unglamorous.
Graduate enrollment rate
of Unschool graduates enrolled in a post-secondary program of their choosing within 24 months.
Conflicts resolved per week
Average disputes resolved by the student-run judicial committee — without adult intervention.
Student-to-mentor ratio
Each mentor supports no more than twelve students across all age groups at any time.
Self-directed projects last year
Completed inquiries ranging from trebuchet engineering to spore-print taxonomy.
Standardized tests since 2016
Nine consecutive years. No exceptions. No waivers. No apologies.
¹ Graduate enrollment data covers the period 2018–2025. "Enrollment" includes four-year universities, community colleges, trade apprenticeships, and accredited online degree programs. Source: Unschool Community Annual Report, 2025.
Student Case Studies
Three children.
Three kinds of proof.
These are not cherry-picked success stories. They are selected because they represent the three most common objections we hear from families: "Will they be taken seriously?" "Will they learn to handle failure?" "Will they get into college?"
Ages 6–7 · Mycology Inquiry
"She didn't ask if she was allowed to study mushrooms. She just did."
— Dr. Miriam Osei, Dept. of Biology, Reed College, on receiving Nora's spore-print presentation
Inquiry Timeline
Nora, age 6, proposes a "mushroom week" at the weekly school meeting. Motion passes 14–3.
Acquires field guides from the school library. Begins cataloguing specimens from the school's half-acre.
Attempts first spore prints. Fails. Documents the failure in her research journal.
Contacts Reed College biology department by letter (dictated to a mentor). Receives a reply.
Presents 22 labeled spore prints to a university seminar audience of 14 students and 2 professors.
Nora was six when she noticed a shelf fungus on the oak tree at the edge of the school's outdoor space. She had no assignment. There was no unit on decomposition. She simply wanted to know what it was.
Over the following seven months she built a taxonomy, failed repeatedly at spore-print technique, and eventually mailed a handwritten letter to a university biology department. The department wrote back.
Her presentation to Reed's undergraduate seminar ran 22 minutes. She answered three questions from the floor. She was seven years old.
22
peer-reviewed spore prints accepted by university archive
Age 13 · Democratic Process
"I lost the vote. So I went back and fixed my argument."
— Maya Reinholt, age 13, Unschool student 2021–present
Inquiry Timeline
Maya proposes extending the school's outdoor lunch period from 30 to 50 minutes. Loses 11–9.
Requests a formal review period. Studies the objections — cold weather, afternoon focus, scheduling.
Surveys 18 students on afternoon focus scores. Builds a spreadsheet. Presents counter-evidence.
Proposes a 60-day trial with opt-out for students who prefer indoor lunch.
Revised proposal passes 16–4. Trial runs through February. Policy adopted permanently in March.
Most schools teach civics. Unschool runs a government. Every policy on campus — schedules, food sourcing, technology access, conflict resolution procedures — is set by a weekly democratic meeting open to every student and mentor.
Maya lost her first vote at thirteen. Rather than appeal to an adult, she treated the defeat as a research problem. She surveyed her peers, identified the objections, and returned with a data-backed revision.
The revised policy passed with a 16–4 majority. Maya later said the experience was "the first time I understood that losing an argument isn't the same as being wrong."
16–4
final vote margin after one revision cycle and 60-day trial proposal
Age 11 → College · Engineering Inquiry
"My admission essay was about a bridge. I built it when I was eleven."
— Jonah Mbeki, now studying Structural Engineering, University of Oregon
Inquiry Timeline
Jonah proposes a "bridge-breaking competition" using popsicle sticks. Approved at school meeting.
Researches truss geometry. Tests five designs. Documents load-to-failure data.
Scales up: builds a full timber bridge across the school's drainage ditch. Load-tests with sandbags.
Mentors three younger students through their own structural projects.
Leaves Unschool. Writes college admission essay about the bridge. Accepted to U of O engineering program.
Jonah was eleven when he became interested in how bridges fail. Not bridges in general — a specific question: at what load does a popsicle-stick truss collapse, and why does one design survive longer than another?
Over six years at Unschool the question never left him. It scaled from popsicle sticks to timber, from competition to mentorship. When he sat down to write his college application essay, he didn't have to invent a formative experience.
He was admitted to the University of Oregon's structural engineering program in 2024. His interviewer later told him it was the most specific personal essay she had read in eleven years of admissions.
6 yrs
single sustained inquiry — popsicle sticks to university admission essay
Learning Profile Assessment
Find Your Child's Learning Profile
Seven questions. Not "is this school right for you" — but "here is exactly how a child like yours has thrived here before."
Question 1 of 7
How old is your child?
Unschool serves students aged 5–16. Each age range has a distinct profile in our data.
Community Voices
The people who
were skeptical first.
We don't ask families to take anything on faith. These are parents who read Sudbury Valley's literature with one eyebrow raised. Former teachers. Homeschool co-op organizers who wanted rigor. People who needed proof.
"I spent fifteen years teaching fourth grade in Portland public schools. I watched kids who were genuinely curious become kids who were strategically compliant. I pulled my son out in 2021. He hasn't stopped asking questions since."
Rachel Okonkwo
Former public school teacher, parent of Elias, age 10
"The judicial committee was the thing that convinced us. My daughter had a conflict with another student that would have landed in a principal's office anywhere else. At Unschool, seven of her peers heard both sides and issued a decision. She respected it."
Tom & Lena Hartmann
Parents of Sofie, age 12 · 2024
"We were Montessori families until our son aged out at six. Every school we looked at after that felt like we were trading depth for compliance. Unschool was the first place that didn't ask us to make that trade."
Priya & Sanjay Mehta
Parents of Arjun, age 9
"I lost two votes in my first month. I won four. I don't think I've ever learned more about how to actually change someone's mind."
Nadia Ferreira
Unschool student, age 15
"I spent fifteen years teaching fourth grade in Portland public schools. I watched kids who were genuinely curious become kids who were strategically compliant. I pulled my son out in 2021. He hasn't stopped asking questions since."
Rachel Okonkwo
Former public school teacher, parent of Elias, age 10
"The judicial committee was the thing that convinced us. My daughter had a conflict with another student that would have landed in a principal's office anywhere else. At Unschool, seven of her peers heard both sides and issued a decision. She respected it."
Tom & Lena Hartmann
Parents of Sofie, age 12 · 2024
"We were Montessori families until our son aged out at six. Every school we looked at after that felt like we were trading depth for compliance. Unschool was the first place that didn't ask us to make that trade."
Priya & Sanjay Mehta
Parents of Arjun, age 9
"I lost two votes in my first month. I won four. I don't think I've ever learned more about how to actually change someone's mind."
Nadia Ferreira
Unschool student, age 15
Visit Day Programme
Come on a Friday.
Watch it happen.
Visit days run every other Friday during the school year. You'll observe a full morning: the weekly democratic meeting, open work time, and lunch. No presentations. No tour guide. Just a school day, unedited.
Observe the weekly school meeting — agenda set by students
Watch the judicial committee hear a real case
Speak with mentors and current families during lunch
Receive a copy of our 2025 Annual Community Report
Upcoming Visit Days — Spring 2026
March 14, 2026
Friday · 8:30 am – 1:00 pm
March 28, 2026
Friday · 8:30 am – 1:00 pm
April 11, 2026
Friday · 8:30 am – 1:00 pm