ASU Prep launching ‘teacherless’ charter high school program in Tempe

PHOENIX — ASU Prep Academy is launching an innovative “teacherless” high school program focused on self-directed learning at Arizona State University.

The tuition-free program is called ASU Prep Tempe. It is a partnership with the Levitt Lab, a hybrid education program that goes against what it calls “traditional” curriculum.

ASU Prep Academy is a public charter school open to all under ASU with multiple metro Phoenix campuses.

Maxwell Smith, the school’s founding leader, said the new Tempe program will allow students in grades 9-12 to pick their own classes, topics and learning speed.

“We have things like in-depth explorations where they choose topics that they want to master the skills in. And they’re going to get high school credit showing up on their transcripts for those topics that they choose,” he said.

The program includes seminar topics such as whether raising minimum wage is a good idea and what a billion dollars could be used for in regard to climate change.

How ASU Prep Tempe is a ‘teacherless’ high school

Megan Hanley with ASU Prep said one of the foundational aspects of the program is its lack of traditional teachers. Instead, credentialed educators known as guides keep track of students’ progress.

“That’s one of the primary innovations for our school. Rather than teachers, we have guides,” she said.

The guides help teach core content and monitor learning. Their focus is on mentoring, coaching and inspiring students rather than teaching them material and giving grades.

“We want them to be doing the work on their own and having a lot of autonomy, but there will be monitoring and check-ins and making sure that students are on track,” she said.

Hanley explained that students have yearly deadlines to meet core curriculum requirements to stay on track to graduate, but there are also options to take college classes and finish courses ahead of time.

Teacherless high school provides independent environment

Smith added that being on ASU’s Tempe campus lets students experience an environment full of independent learners.

“It allows them to immerse themselves in the campus culture being here and feeling what that’s like. We’ll also utilize really all the things that the campus has to provide, things like the Luminosity Lab, Dreamscape. Our students will be able to go to the Memorial Union and pick up some coffee. You know, just the things that you do as a self-directed learner,” he said.

Funding for this journalism is made possible by the Arizona Local News Foundation.

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