Ashoka
Located in the San Francisco East Bay Area, Golestan Education is an independent international school with a Persian Language Immersion Preschool and a Multilingual International Elementary School (K-5). Golestan serves about 100 students in its morning and afternoon programs. Class sizes range from 10-12 (preschool) to 16-18 (elementary and after school programming) with a minimum of two teachers per class. The school supports the development of kind, thoughtful, and courageous children through experiential learning, with a focus on risk-taking, environmental stewardship, and embracing diversity with a deep understanding of other cultures and languages.
Children at Golestan develop a profound understanding of the world around them with a deep appreciation and responsibility for our planet and its inhabitants. The curriculum does an especially good job of conveying the interconnectedness of the world and of their place in it, with the express purpose of having young children understand themselves as just one small piece of a much larger whole. The Mission of Golestan is to partner with children, families and educators to create joyful learning environments that are collaborative, grounding and connected to the natural world. They do challenging and meaningful work that creates a community of kind, thoughtful, and courageous learners who will embrace diversity and steward our earth for future generations. Golestan Education fulfills its mission through the following offerings: 1. The preschool and after school programs use a fully integrated, experiential based approach in a Persian language immersion environment. 2. The elementary school uses an academically rigorous, project-based learning approach with a global perspective. 3. The Colab is a pro-bono consultancy that collaborates with local and global educators and community organizations to create their ideal learning environment for children. The Colab was developed with the express purpose of sharing best practices both on language immersion schools and on curriculum that fosters creative, altruistic children, with an emphasis on environmental stewardship. The Colab has consulted with hundreds of communities across the U.S. and internationally, including Nepal, India, Iran, Iraq, and Kenya.
