Highlander Charter School

The Highlander Charter School was founded in 2000 as an independent charter school serving 78 students from grades K-5.

We are named after the Highlander Folk School, founded in 1932, just outside of Knoxville, Tennessee. We actively teach social justice in developmentally appropriate ways to all of our students, addressing the issues of inequity prevalent in the world today.

We encourage students to explore their interests and passions through a rich curriculum and empower our students and families to work together to solve problems in our own community by using the world as our classroom.

Highlander Charter School staff is dedicated to serving a highly diverse population and to give our students the benefits of a private school education in a public school setting.

In 2004, Highlander partnered with the Dunn Institute to serve as Dunn’s lab school. This has allowed Highlander to apply research and best practices, which enables inner-city students with learning differences to achieve success.