Capstone, new private school in Springfield, is updated version of 'one-room schoolhouse'

Describing the concept as an updated take on the "one-room schoolhouse," a couple will soon open a new private school in Springfield.

Steve and Katy Kelly, co-founders of Capstone: An Acton Academy, hope to finalize a lease on a commercial space this month.

This fall, the school will welcome children ages 7-9. The goal is to start small and grow in the coming years.

"We are passionate about giving this option, not only for the community, but for our own kids," Steve Kelly said.

The couple described the academy as a learner-driven private school that blends hands-on learning, self-paced discovery, technology and the Socratic method.

The mixed-age classrooms, referred to as studies, will allow students of different grades to learn together through peer-to-peer collaboration.

According to the couple, there are no teachers, only guides, and the goal is for students to master what they are learning.

"We hope it will resonate with some families as they start to learn more about it and people start doing some of their own research," he said.

The academy will be highly focused on entrepreneurship.

"The mission is that each person who enters our doors will find a calling that will change the world," he said. "If we can expose young people to entrepreneurship and give them tools to help establish their financial literacy at the earliest ages — and the repetition of seeing that over and over again — it will be pretty incredible what they can learn."

Steve Kelly, a banker, hopes the academy will tap into the entrepreneurial community and supportive small business community in Springfield.

"We think there will be a lot of great learning opportunities," he said.

The couple, who have two children, met while students at Missouri State University and settled in the Kansas City area. They chose Parkville, which has a well respected public school system.

Steve Kelly, the son of a public school teacher, attended public schools and anticipated that his children would do the same.

Their plans changed when they heard a podcast with the founders of Acton Academy, a private K-12 school in Austin.

"They had Jeff Sandefer, one of the founders, that was talking about the middle school class at the time was having a town hall to decide some rules for the upcoming semester and, so, wow, there were no adults present in the room," Steve Kelly recalled. "We're like 'Well, this is kind of interesting.'"

The couple started to research the concept and ended up traveling to Austin to attend an open house.

"We were blown away by the independence. The middle school group was running the entire open house. There's probably 100 parents and families and it's 100 percent run by students," he said. "They were the ones interviewed in a forum."

Following the visit, the couple planned to move to Austin and enroll. Steve Kelly opted to take a job in Springfield and enrolled their children in the Discovery Garden Montessori School.

They liked the Montessori approach but could not forget what they saw in Austin so they applied to open an affiliate Acton Academy in Springfield, which will be one of more than 270 around the globe.

They formed a nonprofit and figured out how to get started.

"We have a core group of families who all want to have this type of self-directed, learner-driven model of education for their elementary students," he said.

By starting small, with as few as 10 students this fall, the couple hopes awareness about this type of educational option will grow locally.

"We have a desire to get to a K-12 full program. We are really focused on starting small and kind of growing as demand leads us," he said.

He said those unfamiliar with this concept should not confuse it with a "homeschool co-op type situation."

"The learning design for an Acton Academy is really unique in that every six to seven weeks there is a quest, a topic where you're doing a deep dive and you're learning," he said. "At the end of this session, you are doing a public exhibition to show the community what you have learned."

The model prizes creative and self-directed discovery. The students learn core skills and the areas and content is centered around critical thinking.

Once open, this will be the first Acton Academy affiliate in the Ozarks. For more details go to https://www.capstoneacton.org.

There is an application process. There is a $350 enrollment fee and tuition is $7,500 and can be paid in monthly installments from September 2022 through June 2023.

The academy is developing a scholarship program.

"It's very much hands-on for the learner and hands-off for the parent and/or teacher to where it kind of allows them to learn a subject," he said.

Steve Kelly said students will learn from their peers, including those who've mastered the content. He said students will "encourage each other, equip, inspire and really challenge each other to do excellent work."

Claudette Riley is the education reporter for the News-Leader. Email news tips to criley@news-leader.com.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Springfield's new private school an updated 'one-room schoolhouse'