Location: Southwest Austin (behind the YMCA in Oak Hill)
6211 Parkwood Drive
Austin, TX 78735
Students served: Grades 1–12
Current enrollment: 61 for elementary/middle school; 30 expected for high school
Model/philosophy: Austin Rising School is a homeschooling co-op where students have deep and meaningful learning experiences. ARS inspires learning through a hands-on, project-based approach, fostering collaboration, innovation, creative and critical thinking, and purposeful learning. Its unique approach to social-emotional learning supports students in their social, emotional, and educational journey, making them feel safe, heard, and loved while in school.
Special features: Block learning, allowing for deep exploration spanning all major content areas; arts-integrated and project-based learning in cross-curricular modules
High School: Project-based learning, spanning all major content areas; higher ed partnership. Located at a different campus in South Austin.
Schedule: Tuesday–Thursday 9am–3:15pm, Monday 9am–2pm
Tuition: $7,000–$8,900 per year
Contact: Michelle Larios | austinrisingschool@gmail.com
Each listing in this alphabetical directory gives you a snapshot of a small, independent, alternative school in the Austin area.
This frequently updated list spans several pages, with navigation buttons at the bottom. Clicking on the name of a school will take you to its own website. To easily find schools by geographical area, see our Alt Ed Maps page. If you know of a school that’s missing from this directory, please drop a note here, and see Alt Ed Austin’s criteria for “alternative” and “school.” You may also be interested in our directories of other recommended schools (which are mostly larger or more specialized or religiously oriented), as well as special programs for children and adults.
Full disclosure: Alt Ed Austin founder Teri Sperry has ties with several of the schools listed on this site. Her child, now in graduate school, attended two of them years ago. She has friends who direct, teach at, or are otherwise involved in others. Some programs choose to advertise from time to time on Alt Ed Austin as Sponsoring Partners. She firmly believes that all of the schools featured on this site (including the ones to which she has no personal connection and those from which she receives no advertising fees) are good choices for some kids, each for different reasons.
