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Research on Freedom-Based Education
by Dana Bennis
In the introduction to the research chapter of
his seminal work on education, Freedom to
Learn for the 80s (1983), Carl Rogers
writes, “this is one of the most important
chapters . . . for anyone interested in being
human in the classroom” (p. 197). Rogers insists
that in order for skeptical politicians,
administrators, and boards of education to
understand the freedom-based approach to
education and recognize its value, educators and
researchers need to study this approach and
present the data to those skeptics.
I agree with Rogers that we must gather hard
data if we are to enable critics and those
unfamiliar with this approach to see in concrete
terms how freedom-based education benefits
children. Some people involved with
freedom-based education may reject the need for
hard data, believing that the significance of
this approach cannot be measured. While I
sympathize with that conviction and maintain
that freedom in education is inherently
valuable, I believe that research plays an
essential role in strengthening the foundation
of freedom-based education and paving the way
for greater understanding and recognition for
this approach. With these goals in mind, this
article briefly summarizes research on
progressive and freedom-based education and
reports on a study I recently completed
comparing freedom-based and conventional
schools.
Prior Research
Although this article focuses on formal studies,
there are also many anecdotal reports of
freedom-based education, as many founders, staff
members, and supporters have written about their
first-hand experiences working in and visiting
schools. Such studies provide a vivid portrait
of freedom-based education and the nature of
life and learning within these environments
(see, for example, Appleton, 2000; Gregory,
1993; Gribble, 1998, 2005; Mercogliano, 1998;
Sadofsky & Greenberg, 1994).
The Eight-Year Study (Aikin, 1942) was a
ground-breaking formalized study of a more
progressive approach to education. Conducted in
the 1930s, the Eight-Year Study compared the
college experiences of nearly 1,500 students
from progressive, experimental high schools
(featuring high levels of student choice,
project-based learning, and a focus on the whole
child) with the experiences of the same number
of students from conventional high schools
(marked by teacher-directed learning,
lecture-style approaches, and narrow curricula).
Relative to students who attended the
conventional schools, the research found that
students who graduated from the more
experimental schools had higher grades and more
academic honors, showed higher levels of
intellectual curiosity, demonstrated greater
resourcefulness in responding to challenges, and
had a more active concern for the world around
them. Furthermore, students who attended the
most progressive of the experimental schools –
those with the fewest requirements, most
non-compulsory classes, and most field trips –
were found to report the highest levels of these
factors.
A British-based study (Hannam, 2001) of 16
schools identified as being more than typically
student participative found that administrators,
teachers, and students of those schools viewed
student participation as enhancing students’
self-esteem, motivation, sense of ownership and
empowerment, in addition to raising scores on
the General Certificate of Secondary Education
(GCSE), exams taken by high-school age students
in England. Moroever, the study reported that
attendance at the student participative schools
was slightly higher than at conventional schools
with similar student demographics.
Research specifically on freedom-based schools
includes several studies of the alumni of
Sudbury Valley School (SVS) in Framingham,
Massachusetts. One study found that SVS alumni
had little difficulty being admitted to and
adjusting to higher education, and reported that
alumni perceived their experiences at SVS to
benefit them by fostering personal
responsibility, initiative, curiosity, the
ability to communicate with people, and an
appreciation of democratic values (Gray &
Chanoff, 1986). A comprehensive study of SVS
alumni (Greenberg, Sadofsky, & Lempka, 2005)
found that 82% of respondents pursued formal
higher education while nearly all others
directly entered a career field of choice; that
the most common reasons why alumni chose their
lines of work include individual passion, native
talent, and the desire to serve others; and that
the most widespread personal qualities alumni
reported exhibiting in their work were the
ability to relate to others, self-confidence,
commitment/passion, and
responsibility/follow-through. Moreover, 86% of
alumni respondents reported that their lives
reflect their values, 90% indicated that they
feel they have control over their lives, and 85%
of respondents reported being satisfied with
their current lives.
A comprehensive study of freedom-based schools
in Japan (Nagata & Kikuchi in Nagata &
Manivannan, 2002) surveyed various
characteristics and effects of “free schools”
and “free spaces.” The difference between the
two types, according to a personal message from
Nagata, is that “free schools put more emphasis
on organized learning, while free spaces value
more flexibility of each individual child’s
life.” The study found that 78% of children in
free schools and 69% of children in free spaces
became more lively while attending the school,
and 79% of children in free schools and 46% in
free spaces were reported to have made academic
improvement. In addition, the percentage of
adults noting improved interpersonal
relationships as a result of working at the
school was 78% at free schools and 88% at free
spaces.
A study still in progress involving over 400
graduates of Jefferson County Open School, a
freedom-based public school in Lakewood,
Colorado (Posner, 2006), has found that 91% of
the graduates surveyed went on to higher
education, that 84% of those earned a college
degree, and that 26% of those who went to
college earned graduate degrees. The study has
also found that 95% of respondents thus far
report being constantly engaged in the search
for meaning in their lives, and that 85% are
deliberately helping in some form to create a
better world.
Research by University of Rochester psychology
professors Ed Deci and Richard Ryan into human
motivation and the concept of autonomy provides
a great deal of data relevant to freedom-based
education. In comparison with controlling
environments, the research has found that
autonomy-supportive environments – characterized
by respect for students and student choice – are
associated with greater conceptual learning (Vansteenkiste
et al., 2004), higher levels of creativity (Koestner
et al., 1984), greater self-determined
learning (Grolnick et al., 1991), and
higher levels of intrinsically motivated
behaviors (Deci & Ryan, 1985). The research also
indicates that humans have an innate need to be
autonomous, to feel a sense of control and
self-governance over one’s actions (Deci &
Flaste, 1995).
Comparative Research Study
The purpose of my study was to compare the
educational atmospheres of conventional and
freedom-based schools and assess the impact of
the schools on student autonomy, student levels
of intrinsic motivation, and students’
development of personal qualities, which for
this study included self-confidence,
independence, compassion, curiosity,
responsibility, critical thinking, and
self-awareness. “Conventional school” was
defined in the study as the typical school
structure in this country, being largely
hierarchical with a standardized, required
curriculum through which all students must
proceed in order to graduate; a “freedom-based
school” is marked by self-directed learning,
democratic decision-making involving all
students and staff, and equality for all school
members.
The study surveyed 10-15 alumni from each of
three public high schools, including a
conventional school, a freedom-based school
(“FBS-A” for this study) with a prominent
advisory system and partly pre-planned learning
structure (including classes which students sign
up for or lead, a required wilderness trip, and
a project-based graduation process), and a more
“pure” freedom-based school (“FBS-B”) wherein
students have greater liberty to chart what they
do each day.
Surveys
The study involved two surveys. The first, the
“Learning Environment Survey,” is a combination
and modification of several scales created by
the work of Deci and Ryan, and assesses for
school atmosphere, learning climate and
autonomy-support, and student motivation. The
second survey, the “Development of Personal
Qualities Questionnaire,” was created
specifically for this research and assesses for
the extent to which schools enable student
development of the personal qualities mentioned
earlier.
Results
In summary, the results of this study establish:
A correlation between freedom-based
schools and a positive school atmosphere, high
levels of perceived autonomy-support, high
levels of student intrinsic motivation and
self-determination, and strong development of
personal qualities such as self-confidence,
responsibility, and compassion.
Higher levels of each factor for the
freedom-based schools as compared to the
conventional school.
School Atmosphere
This section asked alumni to rate the atmosphere
of their school in terms of being cooperative,
constrained, tense, relaxed, pressured,
trusting, demanding, respectful, anxious, and
democratic.
As shown in Figure 1, 100% of the
alumni surveyed from both freedom-based schools
strongly or moderately agreed that their school
was cooperative, trusting, respectful, and
democratic.
Alumni from the conventional school
showed much lower numbers for those descriptors:
50% strongly or moderately agreed that the
school was cooperative, 33% considered it
trusting, 41% considered it respectful, and only
16% strongly or moderately agreed that their
school was democratic.
The conventional school rated much
higher than the freedom-based schools for
negative environmental indicators including
constrained, pressured, and anxious.
Learning Climate / Autonomy-Support
The purpose of this section was to determine the
graduates’ perceptions of the extent of
autonomy-support provided to them by the
teachers and staff members at their respective
schools.
Alumni from both freedom-based schools
perceived adults at their schools to be
considerably more autonomy-supportive than was
the perception of adults at the conventional
school. (Higher levels of autonomy-support, as
mentioned above, are linked to greater
conceptual learning, higher levels of
creativity, higher levels of intrinsic
motivation, and greater self-determined
learning).
Student Motivation
This section asked alumni to rate why they
engaged in learning activities while enrolled in
their school. Each reason fell into a different
motivation style, either one of the two external
styles (extrinsic and introjected motivation) or
one of the two internal styles (integrated and
intrinsic motivation). The survey also assessed
the alumni’s Relative Autonomy Index (RAI), a
weighted average of these styles that indicates
the overall extent to which individuals are
self-determined.
Alumni from all three schools showed
greater tendency toward internal motivation
styles while in high school as opposed to
external motivation styles.
The freedom-based schools’ scores for
internal motivation were considerably higher
than the internal motivation scores for the
conventional school, indicating that alumni from
both freedom-based schools were more internally
motivated to engage in learning activities
compared with alumni from the conventional
school.
Alumni from both freedom-based schools
showed substantially higher levels of RAI and
self-determination as compared to alumni from
the conventional school.
Alumni from the more “pure”
freedom-based school, FBS-B, reported
considerably higher levels of self-determination
while in school in comparison with alumni from
the FBS-A, the freedom-based school with a more
extensive pre-planned structure.
Development of Personal Qualities
Figure 2 portrays the extent to which alumni
from the three schools strongly or moderately
agreed that their respective schools helped them
develop each of the personal qualities listed
earlier.
With regard to nearly every personal
quality, alumni from both freedom-based schools
on average rated their school as more helpful in
developing these qualities than did alumni from
the conventional school.
Perhaps the most striking result
pertains to the quality of compassion. While
100% of alumni from FBS-B and 78% of alumni from
FBS-A strongly or moderately agreed that their
school helped them develop compassion, only 9%
of alumni respondents from the conventional
school indicated the same for their school.
While 100% of alumni from the
freedom-based schools felt that there was an
adult they could go to for discussing a personal
issue at their school, that number drops to 73%
for alumni from the conventional school.
Finally, in response to a question
asking alumni about the extent to which they
believed their school enabled most students to
develop the personal qualities mentioned in the
questionnaire, 86% and 91% of alumni from the
freedom-based schools, respectively, strongly or
moderately agreed to that statement, while only
9% of alumni from the conventional school
strongly or moderately agreed that their school
helped most students develop those qualities
(Figure 3).
Summary and Significance
While the sample size of this study is too small
to lead to generalizations about freedom-based
or conventional education, this study suggests
that freedom-based environments are of
extraordinary value to students. Moreover, this
study sheds doubt on the effectiveness of
conventional education in enabling students to
develop intrinsic motivation,
self-determination, and higher levels of
personal qualities.
Additional studies that include a larger sample
of schools and alumni and a randomized method
for gathering responses can lead to greater
understanding of the differences between
conventional and freedom-based forms of
education. Such studies can also provide the
hard data that can help skeptics, politicians,
educators, and parents understand the powerful
significance of a freedom-based approach to
education.
References
Aikin, W. M. (1942). The story of the eight-year
study, with conclusions and recommendations. New
York: Harper & Bros.
Appleton, M. (2000). A free-range childhood:
Self regulation at Summerhill School. Brandon,
VT: Foundation for Educational Renewal.
Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (1985). Intrinsic
motivation and self-determination in human
behavior. New York: Plenum Publishing Co.
Deci, E. L., & Flaste, R. (1995). Why we do what
we do: Understanding self-motivation. New York:
Penguin Books.
Gray, P., & Chanoff, D. (1986). Democratic
schooling: What happens to young people who have
charge of their own education? American
Journal of Education, 94(2), 182-213.
Greenberg, D., Sadofsky, M., & Lempka, J.
(2005). The pursuit of happiness: The lives of
Sudbury Valley alumni. Framingham, MA: Sudbury
Valley School Press.
Gregory, T. (1993). Making high school work:
Lessons from the Open School. New York, NY:
Teachers College Press.
Hannam, D. (2001). A pilot study to evaluate the
impact of the student participation aspects of
the citizenship order on standards of education
in secondary schools research on self-directed
education in England. Draft
report for Prof. Bernard Crick, Ministerial
Adviser for Citizenship Education at the
Department for Education and Employment (DfEE),
London, England.
Gribble, D. (1998). Real education: Varieties of
freedom. Bristol, UK: Libertarian Education.
Gribble, D. (2005). Lifelines. Bristol, UK:
Libertarian Education.
Grolnick, W. S., Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L.
(1991). The inner resources for school
achievement: Motivational mediators of
children’s perceptions of their parents. Journal
of Educational Psychology, 83, 508-517.
Koestner, R., Ryan, R. M., Bernieri, F., & Holt,
K. (1984). Setting limits on children’s
behavior: The differential effects of
controlling vs. informational styles on
intrinsic motivation and creativity. Journal of
Personality, 52:3, 233-248.
Mercogliano, C. (1998). Making it up as we go
along: The story of the Albany Free School.
Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann Press.
Nagata, Y. & Manivannan, R. (2002). Prospect and
retrospect of alternative education in the
Asia-Pacific region: Report of the international
seminar for the development of alternative
education: Sharing experiences among ‘free
school’ educators in Asia and the Pacific.
Japan: National Institute for Educational Policy
Research.
Posner, R. (2006). Lives of passion, schools of
hope: The alumni project for Jefferson County
Open School. Manuscript in preparation.
Sadofsky, M. & Greenberg, D. (1994). Kingdom of
childhood: Growing up at Sudbury Valley School.
Framingham, MA: Sudbury Valley School Press.
Vansteenkiste, M., Simons, J., Lens, W., Soenens,
B., & Matos, L. (2005). Examining the
motivational impact of intrinsic versus
extrinsic goal framing and autonomy-supportive
versus internally controlling communication
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