Academic Programs
Empowering students to understand themselves and navigate their own path is fundamental to a Khan Lab School education.
Our School
KLS is a non-profit, mastery-based, independent school designed to implement the innovative educational ideas developed by Khan Academy founder, Sal Khan. In his 2012 book, The One World Schoolhouse, Khan outlines a vision for the future of K-12 education, based on student-centered and mastery-based models. In 2014, he founded Khan Lab School to test and refine these ideas in an actual school setting. It has now grown to a full K-12 program on two campuses, serving 280 students in Silicon Valley, and one campus in Wichita, Kansas.
Our Students
KLS believes that young people are capable of far more than society currently recognizes. Students at KLS embrace this philosophy in their unique journeys and experience the meaningful outcomes of mastery learning. Instead of competing against one another, they collaborate and make real contributions in the world around them. Our students are not singularly focused on chasing high marks or piling on AP courses. Instead, they take agency in their own learning, seek to understand course content, cultivate a range of interests and skills, and demonstrate their achievements in various contexts. Our students are innovators in every way, advancing their mastery-based education, and, most importantly, their own futures.
Our Curriculum
With Khan Lab School’s mastery-based learning model, students must demonstrate an understanding of content and skills identified in a course before progressing. KLS creates space within and beyond core academics for students to explore interests. Students can extend their learning beyond the classroom through dual enrollment and other programs. In this way, they further develop skills and apply learning within contexts meaningful to them–and often develop expertise at a far younger age than many would expect. Wellness, caring, and creativity are also central to community life.
Starting in kindergarten, their experience at Khan Lab School sets the pace, tone and expectations for learning. From the start, our students are guided by teachers and immersed in an atmosphere that fosters independent learning. It is in the K-6 years that the foundational elements of a Khan Lab School education are supported and acquired.
Our philosophy and methodologies lead students to see their educational and developmental journey as an exciting adventure that includes a willingness to stumble, fail, and try again. As they acquire knowledge and embrace growth, they begin to find their own voice and learn to work with their peers, often across grade levels.