BLUE HILL – Founded eight years ago to provide high school students with unique learning experiences, the Liberty School is building on that mission with a $400,000 grant that aims to make secondary education statewide more challenging, relevant and interesting.

With about 70 students from 15 communities, the Liberty School gives no tests and does not divide the youngsters by grade levels. The students, most of whom have their tuition paid by their sending towns, help design their own curriculum and arrange their own schedules. They go out into the community and take part in apprenticeships and internships, travel to other countries, and participate in early college programs. They help run the school and are involved in hiring teachers, setting and enforcing policies, and even cleaning and maintaining the four buildings that make up the Liberty School.

The Liberty School was one of 10 high schools in the state selected in 2003 to share a $10 million, five-year Great Maine Schools Project grant to examine ways to improve high schools. The idea is to address the different learning needs of students and make learning more relevant so that when students graduate they are better prepared for college or the job market.

The schools were picked by the Portland-based George J. Mitchell Research Institute, which is administering the grant program for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

“They said they’re looking for us to lead the way,” school founder and director Arnold Greenberg said recently.

Pam Fisher of the Mitchell Institute said the Liberty School was chosen precisely because of its uniqueness.

“We felt other schools might learn about how they design courses and involve students in the decision making process in every aspect of the school,” she said.

Since receiving the grant, the Liberty School continues to chart new territory.

It has used some of the grant money to update its Internet system, so that even when students are involved in their off-campus learning, they can take school courses online and send back stories about their experiences.

“We want to become a school without walls. Most schools use the Internet to reach out to the world. We want our kids using the Internet to be out in the world reaching in,” said Greenberg.

Also with help from the grant, Liberty has been able to expand its unique curriculum and offer classes that integrate a number of subjects such as history, math and writing.

Although Liberty students take the Maine Educational Assessment and must meet the Maine Learning Results academic standards, they can choose from a variety of innovative classes that likely would not be found at more traditional schools. For example, in one class students read literature on trout fishing and then took fishing trips once a week. Other classes are more traditional, such as calculus, chemistry and French.

“In most schools, students don’t have a menu of choices,” said Greenberg.

This spring, after the school purchased a model train set, students designed the layout to replicate a typical Depression-era coal mining town. They figured out gradients and curves and researched the history of trains and the “hobo movement” in which thousands of young boys left home to ride the rails in the 1920’s and ’30’s. Next year, the plan is to write a script for a movie and create a computer program to control the trains.

“Our hope is to make learning as relevant to real world experiences as possible,” said Charley Martin-Berry, enrollment coordinator.

One recent day found five boys huddling over the train project, obviously proud and excited about their work.

“We have to make trees and develop forests, put in a lake and build a hopper,” said Brandon Becker, a junior. “We’ll show the economic impact trains had on a town.”

Students used calculus to scale everything down, said sophomore Richie Cohen. “Everything’s in scale – the trees, the houses,” he said.

The project epitomizes why he chose to attend Liberty School, said Cohen. “This isn’t like any other school. We get to plan out how we’re going to learn.”

Each week, students, parents, teachers and board members meet to discuss policies, academics and other issues. Calling the school a “democratic learning community,” Greenberg said students feel real ownership of the school.

“The real curriculum of the school is the school itself,” he said. “Encouraging students to speak out, take action and advocate for what they want is a big part of the education we provide. We want students to be spirited citizens of the world and that’s why the democratic process at Liberty is so important.”

For some students, a school such as Liberty, which focuses on “democratic schooling” seems to work, said John Maddaus, associate professor of education at the University of Maine.

In fact, students at the Liberty School fare well based on traditional measures. According to the 11th grade Maine Educational Assessment scores from 2003-2004, they exceeded the state average in reading and social studies, matched it in science, and fell slightly below in writing and math. But Greenberg pointed out that the MEA doesn’t provide an accurate picture of the school’s educational program, since many students enter Liberty in the 10th and 11th grades.

Each year, more than 70 percent of Liberty’s graduating students plan to continue their education, slightly higher than the 68 percent state average.

But there are other indicators that are equally as important, according to Greenberg, who wants to devise a way to assess “the core values of a democratic education.” So, using the grant money, the school has hired a number of consultants who are helping students measure how the school fosters self determination, courage, passion and citizenship.

“We want to be able to document scientifically how this approach to education fosters those qualities,” said Greenberg.

Next year the plan is to use some of the grant money to start a farm in which students grow vegetables for the community. “It’s a way of teaching self-sufficiency skills,” said Greenberg. Another idea is to build a greenhouse that students could use in science class.

The grant requires the school to share its ideas, so this fall, Liberty plans to hold conferences to help other schools across the state understand how to become a democratic learning community.

“Most schools talk about democracy, but don’t practice it,” Greenberg said.

For more information, visit the school’s Web site at www.liberty-school.org