Clark Street Community School is a place and project based democratic school in the Middleton - Cross Plains Area School District.  CSCS was founded by local educators, community members, students and families who were interested in developing a school that works for educational innovation in our school district.  CSCS is open to ninth through twelfth graders and enrolls approximately 120 students.

Our Vision is to be the leader in democratic, place-based and project-based education, facilitating inspirational and authentic learning experiences that engage students, families, educators and the community.
 
Our Mission is to cultivate a democratic learning environment that celebrates the interests and passions of its members and provides opportunities for students, families, educators, and the public to work together to enrich local, regional, national and global communities.  Participants will strive to think critically and strategically, solve problems creatively and collaboratively, and develop dispositions, knowledge, practices and skills that promote life-long learning and mindful civic engagement.
 

Place-based Education empowers students to examine their lives, their communities and their world.  Communities provide real-world and “right-now” contexts for problem-solving, inquiry and discovery.  Place-based education pairs real-world relevance with intellectual rigor, while promoting genuine life-long citizenship.
 
Project-based Education provides a platform for flexible and emergent learning opportunities, empowering students to become active and engaged learners.  Projects are student, teacher and community-driven; employing individual, small, and large group formats; with coaching from educators and content area specialists. 
 
Democratic Education believes that students, families, educators and community members have a right to fully-informed and critical participation in creating school policies and programs, and work collaboratively to solve interpersonal and community issues.  Students have voice and choice in their academic learning, along with personalization and ownership in their individual development.   Democratic education recognizes the dignity and rights of all individuals; the welfare of others and the common good; the individual and collective capacity for people to solve problems; the open flow of ideas, regardless of their popularity, that enables people to be as fully informed as possible; and the use of critical reflection and analysis to evaluate and revise ideas, problems and policies.