Meet Our Founder: Sal Khan

In 2012, when writing The One World Schoolhouse, I outlined how modern education developed and how Khan Academy came to be. But, most importantly, the book outlines a vision for the future of both in-person and online education given the tools we have and the need for many more people to participate in the knowledge economy. Two years later, I founded Khan Lab School to test and refine these ideas in an actual school setting. Today, our school has grown to encompass a Lower School (K-5th), a Middle School (6th-8th) and an Upper School (9th-12th) that collectively serve over 280 students.

From our founding, the core ideas of the school have been:

• The personalization of pace with high expectations
• Opportunities for students to learn from one another
• Giving students the opportunity and tools to fill in their knowledge gaps and improve their achievement
• Learning that is not bound by time or space, and
• Blurring the arbitrary boundaries between elementary school, middle school, high school and college

We believe in focusing on what really matters for students’ lives (i.e., no busy work!). This enables content knowledge, skill development, applied learning opportunities and collaboration to reinforce each other rather than be in competition with each other. We value focusing on fewer authentic student-driven applied experiences over many artificial, cookie cutter ones.  We believe that students can be extremely competitive in the broader world without having to be competitive with their peers. Most importantly, we believe that student agency, mindfulness and resilience are the most important skills in a world with too many stressed young people lacking a sense of purpose.  

At Khan Lab School, all of our decisions are made through the lens of what is best for our students. We tackle tough questions without ego, are results oriented, and have high expectations for our school and our students. 

Thanks for your interest in Khan Lab School.  We look forward to getting to know you through our application process. 

Onward,

Sal Khan
Founder, Khan Academy & Khan Lab School