Erin did well in elementary school, but by Jr. High she was not thriving in a traditional classroom setting. In a word, she was miserable.
When she got to ninth grade, she got into Portland Public Schools' alternative magnet school, the
Metropolitan Learning Center. It's an experimental K-12 school centered on expeditionary learning, self-guided curriculum and outside-the-box thinking. She loved it, and learned at least as much about life and herself as about academics.
She never got a grade. Instead, she has a portfolio.