FAQs

Base tuition for the 2025-2026 school year is $38,000. Additional costs include an annual $2,000 activity & technology fee. Students can choose to participate in after-school clubs for an additional fee of $300 per club per quarter.

The Sycamore School serves 5th-12th grade students.

The Sycamore School is a good fit for:

• students who are bright, curious and craving a more personalized, engaging and dynamic learning community.
• students with a Montessori or international schooling background.
• students who are currently "falling through the cracks" and feel ignored or overlooked in a larger school setting.
• students who are becoming disengaged and disenchanted in their current school setting and not performing up to their potential.
• students who need to move around and/or would like choices of how they work with concepts and demonstrate mastery.

We consider all students on a case by case basis. Some students with attention issues, learning struggles, and/or anxiety, would benefit greatly from our program. Our program is not a good fit for students with significant behavioral, cognitive or language struggles.

• We offer individualized instruction, student choice, and pacing options within a small learning community.
• We cultivate school-wide routines that promote executive functioning skills.
• We incorporate social and emotional learning with academic instruction.
• We provide scaffolding for larger assignments and regular goal-setting.

8:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. with optional after school clubs from 3:30 p.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Thursday.

No. We embrace an urban school model and utilize public transportation and other resources that are within our community.

TSS is fully accredited through Cognia (formerly AdvancED) and is also becoming accredited with VAIS.

Our lead teachers are certified. However, teacher certification is not our top priority. We welcome staff who are uniquely qualified to work with our students and our curriculum. They need to be creative, compassionate and adept at creating and integrating curriculum.

Most school days, students bring a bag lunch. On Wednesdays, we offer a catered lunch option and on Fridays, students sometimes go out to lunch in the community.

No. One of our values is protecting quality family and leisure time. We recognize that students work hard at school, so after-school time should dedicated to other interests. In middle school, students are not regularly assigned homework. In high school, homework is reserved for completing longer-term projects and building out transferrable skills, such as time management.

We are using aspects of several research-based curricula, such as Mastery Based Learning, 21st Century Learning, Common Core, Universal Design for Learning, Next Generation Science, Discovery Math, and Mindful Schools.

We offer need-based student scholarships and use a third-party system, FAST, to determine eligibility.