Making the Grade

Rebekah Jordan, one of Summit County's newest business owners, was passing through Colorado on her way to California from New England in 2003 and never left. The Connecticut native had just finished up a two-year stint teaching at an inner-city school in Boston and was craving the outdoors.

Jordan brought her passion for alternative education with her, though, and after three years of tutoring and educational consulting, the certified teacher plans to open her own school in Frisco this fall.

The goal of the new Community Home School is to meet the needs of students who need something different than what the public schools can provide.

"I think we have great public schools (in Summit County)," Jordan said. "But my passion is to work with kids who need something else."

Jordan, 28, attended Smith College in Massachusetts with the original intention of studying educational philosophy. An inspiring professor and an experience teaching theater at a nearby women's prison contributed to her decision to become a "hands-on" teacher.

"The women (in the prison) were so strong and so inspirational," she said. "Watching them create art out of life experience was very rewarding."

After college, Jordan did some long-term substituting in various mixed-aged classrooms in Connecticut before landing her middle school job in Boston. The experience with mixed-aged instruction impressed her with its potential benefits.

"Little kids had so much to give to the older kids, and vice versa," she said. The structure of that type of classroom allows students to learn how to be more independent and to go on to the "next thing," she added.

Although she taught in a single-aged classroom in Boston, her job there allowed Jordan to get involved in creative workshops with mixed-aged groups.

Once relocated in Colorado, Jordan started tutoring individuals in a wide variety of subjects. Over the past three years, she's taught students ranging in age from 4 years old to adult. Many of her clients have been public school students who've needed extra help, but home-schooled students have also become a significant part of her business. Parents contact her when their home-schooled students get to subjects they don't feel competent to help them with, she said.

Her tutoring business boomed and Jordan found herself working more than 40 hours a week out of her car. She'd teach students in their homes, the public library and, occasionally local coffee shops.

"The high school kids loved meeting at Starbucks," she said.

By this spring, the car travel became too hectic. Jordan decided to set up a permanent location and, at the same time, expand her business. She rented space in an office building in Frisco and made an arrangement with Colorado Virtual Academy (COVA), an online charter school operated by the Adams County public school district, to provide instructional help for students registered in the program.

Jordan plans to enroll up to 10 first through ninth grade COVA students this fall in her school. If the demand is great, she has another certified teacher on stand-by to add another class.

The COVA program uses a national computer-based curriculum known as "K-12," and Jordan expressed enthusiasm about its content.

"I think it's rich and challenging," she said. "It allows students to work on their own instructional level, and I appreciate its use of technology."

Her new office space will be dedicated to the community school between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m., but Jordan plans to continue to provide tutoring to individual clients later in the day.

She also plans to continue with educational consulting, which she describes as using her expertise to give families knowledge of educational alternatives for their kids. As a consultant, she works with parents and children with special needs to explore appropriate types of schooling.

In addition to her academic business, the Leadville resident teaches ballet and modern dance at the Summit School of Dance. A classically trained ballerina, her specialty as a dancer was character roles.

"I was too tall for the leads," she said. "It was too hard for the men to lift me."

In her spare time, Jordan rock climbs and snowshoes. The Leadville resident admits that she doesn't know how to downhill ski.

As much as she loves the outdoors, though, teaching is Jordan's passion. She credits her high school Holocaust studies instructor, Joan Davenny, with giving her a respect and an appreciation for what students have to offer.

"She treated her students like (they were) adults and that their opinions mattered," Jordan said.

Optimistic about the continued need in Summit County for alternative education, Jordan said she plans to put down roots in the High Country. The business she is creating will enable her to put her educational ideals into practice.

When asked what goals she has for her students, her response reflected her commitment to the non-traditional model she promotes.

"(For them to learn) how to set their own goals, both for education and for their lives," she said. "(And) to have them take ownership of their own education."