TLL is a hybrid school.

At least four days a week, students join us in person for synchronous learning: Wonder Sessions, Open Exchanges (OXs), In-Depth Exploration (IDE) workshops, house huddles, and community-building time. The fifth day can be asynchronous, giving families the flexibility to decide whether their student comes in or learns from home. The exact schedule of synchronous v. asynchronous days is decided by the local guide team.

Each week has a rhythm, but no two days look exactly the same at TLL.

On synchronous days, most students start with a house huddle, where they meet with their house guide and other students in their house to go over school announcements and set their goals for the day. From there, most students move into Core coursework. Over the course of the day, students spend an average of 1–3 hours making progress on Core, working from wherever they’re most comfortable. Every TLL location has couches, comfy chairs, and desks – ample options depending on how students work best. We also have rooms set aside as quiet spaces for when students want to focus.

Students get a full hour for lunch, plenty of time to eat and catch up with friends. Early afternoons are usually for IDEs, where students work individually and in groups on everything from filming horror movies to writing music, building 3D models, or staging historical reenactments. If they have permission, students can even take their IDEs off campus. To close out the day, a lot of students play games, everything from Chess, Pandemic, and Catan to video games with friends.

Interspersed throughout the four synchronous days are an OX and Wonder Session. Students are expected to review the week’s topic ahead of time to prepare for their hour-long OX conversation. Wonder Session is the opposite. There’s no prep required. Students just show up with an open mind and learn something new.

One more thing shapes what a typical day looks like at TLL: our graduated level of autonomy. As students move through their TLL journey and earn responsibility through achievement, regular attendance, and kindness, they’re given more flexibility to go off campus during non-required synchronous time.

On an asynchronous day, students focus on their core and IDEs from a location of their choice.

Students at TLL vary tremendously in their interests, style, and independent learning journeys, though they all share three key traits.

Passion: TLL students are passionate about something, whether or not it’s related to traditional school. For many of our students it’s art, video games, building, sports, and more, but they all have something that excites them.

Self-Motivation: Students may not start TLL with the executive functioning skills of an adult, but they’re excited by the prospect of making meaningful decisions about their learning journey with the mentorship of their guides, and by the chance to work toward real independence.

Kindness: Our student community thrives on kindness and collaboration.

The TLL Hub sends weekly progress reports to students and their respective house guide and parents. This report captures how much progress a student has made in each subject over the last week and their cumulative progress in each course. It also shows which OXs and Wonder Sessions are on deck for the coming week. We encourage TLL students to bring home what they’ve learned every week to parents and families!

At TLL, our interdisciplinary, curiosity-driven approach to learning reflects the expansive nature of a college education, equipping students with the skills needed to thrive in higher education. Our unique design fosters independence, allowing students to manage their own schedules and learning, much like in college. Additionally, mastery-based grading is now commonplace at high schools around the country, and nearly every university accepts mastery transcripts.

In our first year operating TLL with ten seniors, our students were admitted to the following schools: Arizona State University, Bates College, Brandeis University, Macalester College, Skidmore College, University of Arizona, University of Chicago, University of Massachusetts-Amherst, and University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Yes! Although we don’t use traditional GPAs internally, we can generate one for you if needed based on your student’s mastery-based grades.

Unlike a traditional teacher who primarily focuses on delivering subject-specific instruction, a guide at TLL serves as a mentor. Guides work one-on-one with students to set academic and personal goals, develop tailored strategies for growth, and explore new interests. Their role is holistic, emphasizing guidance, inspiration, and individualized support rather than standard classroom teaching. Guides offer students the feedback and mentorship needed to achieve their dreams.

We intentionally hire guides from diverse employment backgrounds to provide a well-rounded learning experience for our students. Many of our guides have traditional classroom teaching experience, while others hail from other diverse industries. Our primary goal is to find people who have an infectious love of learning and care deeply about young people.

The TLL Hub handles all the centralized capabilities that allow TLL programs around the country to thrive. Our team ranges from trained economists, data analysts, business leaders, humanists, and software engineers. We generate all the proprietary curriculum material, conduct data analysis on student performance and feedback surveys, and manage partnerships and expansion.

The TLL Hub partners with different host schools, such as ASU Prep, Da Vinci Schools Network, and the Boulder Valley School District to deliver high quality, on-the-ground support for all TLL students. Our partners range from charter schools to public schools to private schools.

Please reach out to contact@thelevittlab.org and a member of our Hub team will be in touch with you shortly.

We are eager to connect with like-minded individuals and organizations who wish to reimagine education. If that is you, please reach out to contact@thelevittlab.org and we will contact you soon.