About Alexandria Friends School: Affiliations
The company we keep:
Friends Council on Education
www.friendscouncil.org
Alexandria Friends School is a membership applicant to the Friends Council on Education and participates in its meetings, activities, and programs on both the regional and national levels.
The Friends Council on Education nurtures the spiritual life of Friends schools, strengthens the connections between the schools, and promotes Friends education through providing consulting services, professional development seminars, peer network meetings, and publications to support Quaker testimonies in school life in its network of over eighty schools throughout the United States.
For more than 320 years, Friends schools have been recognized for fine academics as well as a whole-child approach to intellectual and moral development. Students are encouraged by word and by example to respect the talents and perspectives of others and include them in a cooperative search for knowledge. The Friends Council on Education affirms that the core purpose of its member schools is to create deliberate learning communities that are centered on Quaker values such as simplicity, peace, justice, stewardship, and integrity.
The Friends Council on Education affirms that membership in the Friends Council is composed of schools and organizations based on the faith and practice of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). The Friends Council on Education is committed to the independence of its member schools, affirming the variety and diversity of these schools and supporting their prerogative to offer an extensive range of curricula and programs, to select quality teachers who meet their criteria, and to create values-based learning communities based on the unique educational missions of their schools.
Member schools strive to provide academic and moral development, access and affordability, diversity and multiculturalism, institutional independence, peace education and non-violent conflict resolution, service learning, and world citizenry.
WISER
(Washington Independent Services for Educational Resources)
www.wiserdc.com
WISER's goals are to improve educational services and promote child advocacy by providing comprehensive resources to children and parents in Washington, DC, Northern Virginia, and suburban Maryland. WISER members are seasoned professionals and experts in their fields. Alexandria Friends School is an organizational member.
WSSA
(Washington Small Schools Association)
www.washingtonsmallschools.org
For over forty years there has been a unique group of independent schools in the greater Washington, DC area; schools which are small, nurturing, and often not terribly well known. These schools are members of the Washington Small Schools Association. Families come to these schools from Northern Virginia, the District of Columbia, Montgomery, Howard, Frederick, Prince George's, Charles and Anne Arundel Counties in Maryland.
The school links on the organization’s website will lead you to a diverse group of schools, each of which is unique, yet each of which has, as part of its mission, remaining small and knowing each student as an individual.
Will Stewart, head of the Alexandria Friends School, currently serves the organization as its treasurer.
AERO
(Alternative Education Resources Organization)
www.educationrevolution.org
Alexandria Friends School seeks to broaden its horizons through exposure to cutting-edge thinking about education by membership in AERO. AERO was founded in 1989 by Jerry Mintz. AERO is a branch of the School of Living, a non-profit organization founded in 1934 by Ralph Borsodi. AERO's goal is to advance student-driven, learner-centered approaches to education. AERO is considered by many to be the primary hub of communications and support for educational alternatives around the world. Education Alternatives include, but are not limited to, Montessori, Waldorf (Steiner), Public Choice and At-Risk, Democratic, Homeschool, Open, Charter, Free, Sudbury, Holistic, Virtual, Magnet, Early Childhood, Reggio Emilia, Indigo, Krishnamurti, Quaker, Libertarian, Independent, Progressive, Community, Cooperative, and Unschooling. One of AERO's areas of expertise is democratic process and democratic education, but equally important is the networking of all forms of educational alternatives. It is through our work and mission that we hope to create an education revolution.
AERO's mission is to help create an education revolution to make student-centered alternatives available to everyone.
Towards this end, AERO provides information, resources, and guidance to families, schools, and organizations regarding their educational choices. AERO disseminates information internationally on topics such as: homeschooling, public and private alternative schools, and charter schools. AERO's long-term goal is to become a more effective catalyst for educational change by providing books, magazines, conferences, online courses, consultations, support groups, free videos, and organizational information and seminars in the field of alternative education.
Alexandria Chamber of Commerce
www.alexchamber.com
Alexandria Friends School is a member in good standing of our Chamber of Commerce, which provides useful connections to other local businesses for our mutual growth and development as responsible members of our community.