Location: Lakeway / Bee Cave
15740 Hamilton Pool Rd.
Austin, TX 78738
Students served: 6th–8th grade, expanding to high school in 2027–2028
Current enrollment: 8:1 student-teacher ratio
Model/philosophy: Cavalli Ridge Academy is a small, all-girls school on a serene 14-acre equestrian farm, dedicated to a supportive, close-knit community. This intimate environment lets teachers track student mastery and tailor daily instruction to individual needs. In the afternoons, students engage in real-world projects. The schedule features built-in tutoring blocks for dedicated review to help students stay ahead. Vibrant campus life includes Friday workshops, weekly art, pottery, and optional English horseback riding lessons.
Special features: Cavalli Ridge Academy is an all-girls alternative school nestled on a serene 14-acre equestrian farm. This campus features small student-teacher ratios with built-in daily tutoring blocks to guarantee concept mastery. Through immersive, project-based afternoon instruction, learners tackle real-world challenges that maximize engagement and retention. The vibrant student life includes workshop, weekly pottery, art, and optional English horseback riding lessons. Dedicated to tailored growth, the academy also provides an onsite language specialist a couple days a week to directly support students with dyslexia. The school currently serves middle school with plans to expand to high school in 2027 or 2028.
Schedule: 8:30am–3:30pm Monday–Friday. Mostly follows LTISD calendar.
Tuition: $17,500 annual tuition with $1,150 enrollment fee. Tuition paid over 10 months of $1,750 per month.
Contact: Enrollment at 512-470-4668 | admin@cavalliridge.com
Each listing in this alphabetical directory gives you a snapshot of a small, secular, independent, alternative school in the Austin area.
Hover over and click on a school’s name at the top of its listing to open the school’s website in a new tab. This frequently updated list spans several pages, with navigation buttons at the bottom. 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 an adult, 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.
