About the King Open School A group of Cambridge parents and teachers started King Open as a public magnet school more than 25 years ago as an alternative to the then-standard model of public education. continued below... Upcoming Events at KO Monday, January 16 NO SCHOOL - MLK Day Holiday Tuesday, January 17 Community Schools Resumes Wednesday, January 18 School Council Meeting 6:30 - 8:30 p.m., Library Friday - Sunday, January 20-22 You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown (Theater production by Beyond the 4th Wall) Friday, January 27 Martin Luther King, Jr. Assembly 1:00pm, Auditorium Saturday, February 4 Parent-Staff Night Out 6:30 - midnight, Ryles Jazz Club Friday, March 9 The Annual King Open Carnival Friday, March 16 Staff/Student Basketball Game The founders of King Open believed that this standard model often shortchanged children of color, poor and working-class children of all colors, the children of immigrants, and also privileged white children who didn't easily excel in this environment. Even students typically viewed as successful, these founders thought, were receiving a narrow, unchallenging education. Their alternative, which has grown to become King Open, is open to different learning styles, different personalities, different cultures and family backgrounds, and varied teaching methods, and the front door and the classroom doors are always open to parents and other family members. In practice, this means that the teachers engage in active conversation with the students rather than simply deliver instruction. They focus on helping every child develop his or her skills. And they keep working on a curriculum that allows students to grapple with new material in a number of different ways and that encourages them to ask probing questions.This way of teaching is no longer really alternative. Most good schools, even those called traditional schools, have adopted many of these once-alternative methods. And King Open and many other alternative schools have readopted some traditional methods of teaching. Still, King Open maintains a remarkable degree of openness to parent involvement and especially to the individuality of every child.

Learn more about King Open: School Tours     This is a parent-run school website. Click here for the official CPS KO site. 7/8 Washington, DC Trip Info & Payment Page   Read Principal Darrell Williams' entry plan.     Mural: Visons of Community Photo Gallery