Location: Bee Cave / Dripping Springs
Students served: PreK (ages 3–4), Kindergarten (ages 4–6), Grades 1–8
Current enrollment: 50
Model/philosophy: Raphael Springs is a thriving Waldorf educational initiative founded in the fall of 2020 in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, created by a group of parents and educators who sought to preserve in-person learning while adhering to the principles of traditional Waldorf education. This Waldorf-inspired education system ignites the senses and the natural abilities of our children, limits media exposure, and engages children in artistic and academic experiences that are attuned to the unique stages of childhood development, ensuring a holistic and enriching educational experience.
Special features: Trained Waldorf teachers, excellent music/orchestral program, Spanish, gardening, handwork and woodwork, games and movement, low student-to-teacher ratio, fully fenced 5-acre campus
Schedule: 8:15am–3:30pm Monday–Thursday program, with optional Friday Enrichment program, September–May
Tuition: $13,950 (sibling discounts available); $600 materials fees
Contact: info@raphaelsprings.org
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.
