Bixby School, Boulder | Fees, Rankings, Address, Admission, Vacancies, Reviews & More

If I could add another 5 stars, I would. Bixby is what elementary education should be. The teachers and staff have a deep knowledge of each child, they recognize each child’s unique strengths, and they impart a genuine love for each student’s growth and wellbeing. Bixby teachers exemplify what so many of the best teachers strive to be. Their deep love for children enables them to see each child’s strengths. Their faith that each child has a spirit worth nurturing enables their students to see their own strengths, and their persistence to keep digging until they find the spark that helps their students build on their strengths enables each child to become their best selves.

Some parents may look to test scores or academic performance as the marker of academic success. If that is your primary goal for your child’s education it is unlikely you’ll find a match at Bixby. That is not to say Bixby doesn’t prepare their students for academic success; quite the contrary! I appreciate Bixby’s awareness that academic performance is a very small part of the definition of what makes a person successful, and that the foundation of academic success is not any one specific academic skill but instead the broader category of executive function skills. Thinking critically, knowing how to solve problems, having the courage to take risks, seeing your peers as valuable and worthy human beings, understanding who you are and what you need to thrive, and being willing to advocate for yourself…these are the true drivers of success. Neuroscience, education, and child development researchers have only started to realize this important fact; Bixby teachers have known and taught it for nearly 50 years. That they also achieve traditional academic excellence is nothing short of remarkable.

Bixby’s model of individualized learning is perfect for kids who are gifted and/or have mild to moderate learning challenges such as dyslexia or ADHD, as well as typically developing children. Given their population of diverse learners, the school is putting in place a strong administrative team and the necessary teacher supports to ensure each child receives exactly the education he or she needs to be successful at Bixby and beyond, including hiring a gifted and learning specialist and specialized training for teachers (e.g., all literacy teachers are trained in Orton-Gillingham).

The school struggled for a few years by accepting kids with significant socio-emotional or behavior challenges whose needs were beyond the teachers’ and administrators’ expertise. This has changed substantially in the past two years, and they are implementing new, stringent processes to ensure the students who are accepted are the students the teachers can support, and students who will thrive in an education model that emphasizes skills such as independence and responsibility.

Bixby teachers are inspiring, brilliant, courageous, and compassionate human beings, and they help their students find their own path to becoming inspiring, brilliant, courageous, and compassionate human beings. There is truly no greater gift in the world I could give my children than a Bixby education.

My daughter has attended Bixby from 1-3rd grade. She is profoundly gifted and Bixby has met her particular needs remarkably. She also has significant special needs for eating and has needed extra staff, extra staff time, a different area to eat, consistent reporting, changes made at a moment’s notice. And. They. Have. Done. It. All. They also understood her need for acceleration and after getting a feel for her in first grade, skipped her to second and has stayed with that class. As well, as their grade are usually mixed, she can also do higher level work if it suits her. She can take an extra class or have a period of free choice time which has done wonders for her independence. As they don’t make them sit in desks very often, except for keyboarding perhaps, they can sit on the floor, move around, as long as their being attentive. This has allowed the typical physical manifestations of giftedness to not be a hindrance to my daughter’s learning. She CAN move around and swivel and still get her education.

All of the teachers are tuned in and caring.

They now have all school having recess at the same time which is also been wonderful as she has younger and older friends and her “peer group” is based on personalities and connections rather than delineation of grade.

There are a few children that are more aggressive and they’ve met with everyone, heard their concerns, and made plans accordingly. They’re still the more difficult children, but Bixby’s consistently acting in an inclusive way. In other words, they understand there are issues, work to deal with them, and try to move forward. Short of expelling 2-4 children who would probably be much more “standard” in public school, they are, I think, doing a good job to address each particular student’s needs in regards to all interactions.

In short, she has flourished socially, psychologically, and physically. I would say academically if she were pushed she could do much more, but as I homeschooled her some in her early years, I may be the only one that can find that sweet spot when it is just her. But for a 6/7:1 ratio. Bixby has been the best school experience of her life and I wish it went up through high school!

Not to mention they’ve also made it possible for my daughter to continue attending with the help of financial aid (new the last year). It made her future there, happen. I can’t thank them enough.

I’m a big fan and I support them fully.