Crestone Charter School

This is the best school my kids have ever gone to. We have moved around some, but came to this community partly because of the high quality of education here. I love the way that they teach the whole child, not just the academics, without compromising the quality of the reading, writing and arithmetic.
--Submitted by a parent

My experience at CCS has been that the school and staff care about my daughter as a 'whole' child--academics, emotions, social growth, outdoor person, world citizen. I am very happy with this program, and feel like she is growing to be a more responsible world citizen as well as a well balanced and happy individual. If you judge schools by only the report card standard, you will miss too much of what this school has to offer.
--Submitted by a parent

What a total waste of time! My son spent 3 years at the charter school and learned absolutely nothing, which totally destroyed his confidence. If anyone lags behind, they get to stay there - nobody tries to catch them up. The school seems to be more interested in planning field trips, then to do schoolwork. There were often no structure or learning plan whatsoever. The only thing my kid learned from Charter was how to ride his bike. Unhappy parent.
--Submitted by a parent

My son has been a student at CCS for 9 years, Kindergarten through Middle School. If not for this unique and excellent school, I would home school him. His education has prepared him well for life--far beyond what I have experienced in other public schools. He has a strong sense of confidence in himself, he scores above average in all standardized tests, he has incredible outdoor skills, is self motivated. These and many other qualities have been nurtured in CCS's experiential non-graded program. He was late to read, but rather than feeling like a failure for this, he was celebrated for the skills he did have, and allowed to grow at his own unique speed. He is transferring to another more traditional public school due to a move next year (much to my dismay), but he is well prepared to compete in a larger field due to the education here.
--Submitted by a parent

The Crestone Charter School has a program uniquely designed around your child using an ecclectic approach of methods that really work. CCS test scores are the best in the San Luis Valley and improving each year. This year, CCS was chosen as a School of Excellence by the Colorado Arts Council for its integration of the arts into the curriculum and outstanding diversity of arts programs. The outdoor education and travel program is a great strength of the school. In this school, parents strongly support education at a high level in all academic areas and beyond including, character education, outdoor education, environmental stewardship and life skills. Check out our ungraded, ungraded program at www.thecrestonecharterschool.org
--Submitted by a teacher