School Description

Horizons K-8 School is a charter school located within the Boulder Valley School district at 4545 Sioux Drive, Boulder, Colorado. Enrollment at Horizons occurs through the BVSD Open Enrollment procedures. Our school attracts students from all areas of Boulder County.

Our mission at Horizons is to guide students to become self-directed learners and community contributors in a respectful learning environment. High academic and behavioral expectations are maintained for students in kindergarten through eighth grade, and a rich, integrated curriculum is offered. We identify the learning needs of individual students and provide them with authentic learning activities that honor personal interests, choices, and goals. Small, multi-age classes, setting individualized goals, an emphasis on quality work, performance choices, service learning, Spanish language acquisition, and meaningful community participation characterize the school.

Horizons was founded in order to:

1. Establish a restructuring, self-renewing elementary school of choice that reflects and celebrates the diversity of the community served by the Boulder Valley Public Schools and the active participation of its members.

2. Create an innovative, caring, and rigorous learning environment where the needs of the whole child are addressed, the strengths of every child are identified and enhanced, high academic and behavioral expectations are maintained, and all children learn to use their minds fully through active, personalized, outcome-based educational experiences.

3. Develop and implement an educational curriculum that ensures mastery of literacy and mathematical skills, while promoting the growth of positive human characteristics, appreciation and respect for cultural diversity, and environmental responsibility.

4. Develop strong community partnerships, which provide students opportunities to make positive contributions to their community.

History
Horizons K-8 School first opened its doors as Paddock Elementary School to 92 Boulder Valley students in the fall of 1991 as the result of a Boulder Valley Schools "Education for the New Decade" grant. The school was founded upon careful study and community discussion, and reflected the efforts of numerous teachers, parents, and community members. The new program was a thoughtful response to the conclusions and recommendations of district and state professionals, educational researchers, experienced alternative school participants, and schools engaged in current restructuring efforts. It addressed the challenge of meeting the educational needs of all children while preparing them to become caring, confident, and competent participants in the 21st century. Horizons was established by the school district to maximize the strengths of teachers and the participation of the community, and to provide an innovative new model of teaching and learning in Boulder Valley. The founders envisioned a school program in which parents, staff, and students chose to participate, which valued diverse populations of students, and was committed to ensuring educational success. The student body has grown from 92 to over 300 students since the founding of the school. In the fall of 1994, Horizons expanded to include middle-school students, and the school was moved to the Burke Campus in the fall of 1995.

In May 1996, the Horizons community was asked by the Boulder Valley School Board to put forth a proposal to become a charter school within the Boulder Valley School District. Specifically, Horizons’ reasons for seeking charter status were:

1. To ensure that small homeroom class sizes of 16-18 students in grades K - 8 could be maintained, thus protecting class sizes from fluctuations in the district's staffing allocation ratios.

2. To maintain a stable and qualified teaching staff.

3. To continue to design curriculum and assessments which support the highest level of student achievement, while maintaining focus on the priorities and needs of our students, parents, and teachers.

Horizons was granted approval of its charter school proposal and began operation under a Boulder Valley School District charter school contract on July 1, 1997. The charter proposal was renewed in 2005 for five years.