New Schools Exchange

The New Schools Exchange (NSE) was formed at the First New Schools Conference in Menlo Park, California in March 1969. Led by Harvey Haber and located in Santa Barbara, California, NSE's mission was to provide a clearinghouse for resources and information relating to the free school movement. The Exchange collected information and published school directories and the New Schools Exchange Newsletter, a widely read publication within the alternative school network. Haber served as managing editor for the newsletter until the fall of 1971, when Kat Marin assumed these duties. In early 1973, Bill Harwood and Grace Dailey took on the bulk of NSE's duties and moved the organization to St. Paris, Ohio. In 1974, Harwood and Dailey moved the Exchange to Pettigrew, Arkansas where they integrated subsistence farming and communal living into the continuing educational work of the group. The New Schools Exchange published its final newsletter in 1978 and ceased operations due to financial shortcomings.

The New Schools Exchange (NSE) was formed at the First New Schools Conference in Menlo Park, California in March 1969. Led by Harvey Haber and located in Santa Barbara, California, NSE's mission was to provide a clearinghouse for resources and information relating to the free school movement. The Exchange collected information and published school directories and the New Schools Exchange Newsletter, a widely read publication within the alternative school network. Haber served as managing editor for the newsletter until the fall of 1971, when Kat Marin assumed these duties. In early 1973, Bill Harwood and Grace Dailey took on the bulk of NSE's duties and moved the organization to St. Paris, Ohio. In 1974, Harwood and Dailey moved the Exchange to Pettigrew, Arkansas where they integrated subsistence farming and communal living into the continuing educational work of the group. The New Schools Exchange published its final newsletter in 1978 and ceased operations due to financial shortcomings.

The New Schools Exchange was formed at the First New Schools Conference in Menlo Park, California in March 1969. Organized by Harvey Haber and located in Santa Barbara, California, the Exchange's mission was to provide a clearinghouse for resources and information relating to the free school movement.

The free school movement blossomed in the late 1960s as hundreds of community based schools were started nationwide. The new schools sought to provide children an alternative to the public education system, which was increasingly criticized for large school and classroom sizes, impersonal atmospheres, authoritarian methods of discipline, and rigid and archaic curricula. Although the philosophies and practices of individual schools varied, most free schools were small, private and innovative institutions organized on a grass roots level. They generally based their practices on ideas of children's freedom, self-governance and social justice. The free school movement also encompassed free universities, which applied these values to higher education, although they usually existed within established colleges and universities. Free school activity peaked in the early 1970s and declined steadily thereafter.

The New Schools Exchange served as an organizing locus for this movement by collecting information and publishing school directories and the New Schools Exchange Newsletter, a widely read publication within the alternative school network. The newsletter printed a wide variety of materials including school directories and other educational resources, reports from schools, job openings and letters from subscribers. Many issues also contained more formal articles on educational issues written by Exchange staff members, including Allan Graubard, Kat Marin, Peter Marin, Michael Rossman and Tim Affleck. Haber served as managing editor for the newsletter until the Fall of 1971, when Kat Marin assumed these duties.

In early 1973, the organization changed hands once more, when Bill Harwood and Grace Dailey took on the bulk of NSE's duties and moved the organization to St. Paris, Ohio. In 1974, Harwood and Dailey moved the Exchange to Pettigrew, Arkansas, where they integrated communal living and subsistence farming into the continuing educational work of the group. The New Schools Exchange published its final newsletter in 1978 and ceased operations due to financial shortcomings.