Friends School of Minnesota is a K-8 progressive education school grounded in Quaker values. FSMN was founded in 1988 and is located in the Midway neighborhood of Saint Paul, convenient to South Minneapolis. We are a diverse community with students from a broad range of religious and non-religious backgrounds, including ten percent from Quaker families.
The Friends Renewal Process was a lot of work and a collaborative effort. We couldn’t have completed the process without the hard work of many people in our community. Thank you to the many people who shared their experiences at the school, answered surveys, or otherwise helped us gather information. We would like to particularly […] Read more
When the Progressive Education Network (PEN) chose to host its bi-annual national conference in the Twin Cities, we didn’t just passively attend; we helped design, coordinate and run the conference. As the only K-8 affirmatively progressive school in the Twin Cities, we were excited to work with progressive educators from around the country. Four FSMN […] Read more
Even though river levels were still at a record high, our 7th and 8th graders stomped through floodplains to get to the river and get to work. At the river students took phenology notes and collected river data, including river speed, temperature and water quality measurements. They then worked with Karen to collect “nature instruments” […] Read more
At Friends School of Minnesota, we intentionally do not measure school readiness in ways that other schools measure it. A set of skills that are assessed outside of any context (counting to 20, writing their first name, etc.,) doesn’t measure readiness. We don’t look at students through a narrow lens of measurement. Being “ready,” at its […] Read more
