Includes bibliographical references and index.

Diane Tavenner, founder of Summit Public Schools, offers a blueprint for a better way to educate our children, based on the revolutionary lessons, insights, and methodology she and her faculty developed over 15 years at their famously successful charter schools in California and Washington. Diane Tavenner founded the first Summit charter school in 2003, developing and perfecting a personalized, project-based curriculum that puts students in charge of their own learning. The school developed a learning plan for every student. They created mentorship groups, where students would talk through their goals and help each other solve problems, as well as meet one-on-one with their mentor, weekly. By internalizing a sense of purpose, self-direction, self-sufficiency, and collaboration, students learn the cognitive and life skills needed to navigate the next phases of their lives.