Dive Brief:

• AltSchool, the private micro-school combines technology with student-driven education, recently expanded east, opening an outpost in Brooklyn.
• The elementary school does away with traditional structures, including grade levels and curriculum, with students taking individualized progress assessments every quarter and being videotaped during the day so teachers can review their learning.
• The school, which costs $27,500 a year, says it has received 4,000 applications for the 200 slots across its network.

Dive Insight:

The school’s innovative model has won praise from some parents, who are excited about its ground-breaking model and tech-minded approach. Vladimire Calixte, a Brooklyn parent and therapist, told the New York Post the school’s focus on collaboration and on self-advocacy has benefited her daughter. For example, the school holds frequent “town hall meetings” where students show off their projects and discuss with other students. “The message they send is, ‘I hear you, I see you, you’re important to me, and you matter,’ ” she said.

But others remain skeptical. “Utilizing a model that is centrally tech-focused and individualistic in nature will serve to diminish the interaction and overall social maturation of students,” Jae Gardner, CEO of the Ivy Key, told the New York Post. Others questioned whether the lack of curriculum and structure would leave students academically unprepared.