The Dartmoor Method

Developed by Dori Bower, the Dartmoor Method is built around respecting and deeply engaging students so they become the focus and driving force in their own schooling. The method begins with a thorough assessment of the student as a learner and culminates in a personalized course of study. While each program differs, there are shared traits that typify a Dartmoor education:

  • Respectful: respect for the student is the start and end point of all Dartmoor programs

  • Joyous: every person has the ability and the desire to learn; Dartmoor helps students rediscover academic success and regain their innate joy of learning

  • Personalized:  instructional and administrative staff get to know students personally and take an active interest in their overall success and wellbeing

  • Diagnostic - prescriptive: assessment and school data help Dartmoor staff diagnose and prescribe for the specific needs of each student; this allows staff to understand and design for each student’s unique learning profile (level, pace, strengths, interests, needs)

  • Holistic: consultations with the student and family, other educators, and professionals round out the data so that the educational team have a rich appreciation for the student’s profile

  • Dynamic: while initial assessment drives the prescribed program, students benefit from the ongoing care and management of educators who understand how to ensure curriculum and instruction remain engaging, relevant, and appropriately challenging; Dartmoor has an exhaustive array of instructional strategies and curricular resources and significant expertise in working with diverse learning profiles

  • Mastery-based: students work with a concept or skill until they master it at a rate of 80% or higher; mastery-based learning is the foundational method of human learning and the most effective for building skills, competency, and confidence. It allows Instructors to spend more time with students on areas of difficulty, while accelerating the pace on easier material

The proof of the Dartmoor Method’s efficacy is practice-based residing in the success of thousands of students who have enrolled at Dartmoor since 1990 and continued on to achieve their educational and personal goals.