A Week in the Life
This is a typical week in the life of Lauren, a Stanford OHS 8th grader from Spokane, Washington. Lauren plays tennis, volunteers at her local animal shelter, and is involved in Stanford OHS activities.
This is a typical week in the life of Henry, a single-course Stanford OHS 10th grader from Jupiter, Florida. Henry attends his local brick-and-mortar school during the day, then takes an advanced Calculus course from Stanford OHS to supplement his education on East Coast time. He also plays baseball competitively, and attends all-school spirit assemblies at Stanford OHS.
College-Style System & Schedule
Our extended school hours allows students to work at the times of day when they learn best and gives them the freedom to participate in pursuits outside the classroom. It also teaches students to become responsible for their own time and its management sooner rather than later in their academic careers.
To that end, we devised a calendar and schedule based on the U.S. college model:
- We use a two-semester (Fall and Spring) system, although most of our classes are year-long. Students receive a separate grade for each semester.
- Most classes meet twice a week, either Monday/Wednesday or Tuesday/Thursday. Language classes meet three times a week to encourage development of verbal skills. Students use the rest of the time as they need to—preparing for class, finishing assignments, and attending to their other commitments and interests.
- Because ours is a global student body, Stanford OHS runs on an extended school day, 6am to 10pm, although most courses fall between 7:15am and 9pm Pacific Time. That’s important to remember and easy to forget: Scheduled class times reflect Stanford University’s location in the U.S. Pacific time zone.
- In order to accommodate this active, global student body, every year we create a new master schedule based on the time constraints of all our returning students and first-round applicants. Our success rate in meeting these requests is over 90%, and the schedule changes dramatically each year.
Time to Pursue Passions & Connect With Peers
At Stanford OHS classes don’t meet on Fridays. This is to allow our more than 40 student-run clubs and organizations to meet virtually and in-person. Friday is also a time for all-school assemblies and presentations by various outside speakers. And it gives students the opportunity to pursue interests of their own.
Flexible Enrollment Options
Stanford OHS meets each aspiring student’s goals by crafting three enrollment options: full-time (four or five courses), part-time (two or three courses), and single course. This allows students to choose us as their only school or as a way to supplement their learning with courses not found at every brick-and-mortar school.
Policy on Attendance & Engagement
The seminar-style of instruction is an essential component of a Stanford OHS education; all students are expected to engage fully in their seminars. Students thrive as a result of their interactions with other bright, motivated students under the guidance of expert instructors. Thus, it is essential that students attend seminars and are active within them. For this reason, instructors keep a close eye on student attendance and engagement and the Administration moves quickly to address lapses in attendance or engagement before they undermine a student’s education.
Students are expected to be present and participate actively in each live class meeting for each discussion section in which the student is enrolled. Students are also expected to attend the specific section in which they are enrolled, as doing so is part of building a strong classroom community. As part of preserving this classroom community, parents/guardians may not sit in on their student’s classes.
Students who miss more than 20% of the discussion sessions per semester (once enrolled in the course) may not receive credit for the semester. All absences count toward this total.