Elementary and middle schools in America have an average of about 25 students per class. At the Kindezi Schools in Atlanta, the average is just 7.

Reimagining the student-teacher ratio lies at the heart of the Kindezi method, which the schools’ founder, Dean Leeper, an alum of Atlanta’s public schools and the Harvard Graduate School of Education, says is the key to turning learning into a “joyful act” rather than a “chore.”

“I identified class size as a really big impediment to me connecting with the students in a more organic and natural kind of way,” Leeper said, remembering his two years as a public school teacher in Atlanta. “There were so many of them, I felt like I was much more having to wear my strict ‘control the class mask,’ and never really able to take it off and just kind of enjoy the kids like I wanted to.”

"Kindezi" is a Bantu word that means “holistically schooling other people’s children with love and an eye to the future of the village.” This idea inspired Leeper to create The Kindezi Schools. The first, which serves students in kindergarten through eighth grade, opened in 2010 with support from the Walton Family Foundation. In 2015, the foundation supported the startup of a second Kindezi school. It was one of the approximately 100 charter schools that the foundation helped to get off the ground in 2015.

The Kindezi Schools adhere to six philosophical pillars, which are drawn from practices first developed in the Congo. These include focusing on character, creativity, happiness, and diversity; strictly limiting class size to no more than eight students; offering extra instruction to accommodate different learning styles; and focusing on non-academic skills and problem solving like robotics, computer programming and music.

Teacher evaluations emphasize being physically active, building a positive rapport with students and bringing joy to the classroom. “Compared with a lot of schools, you will see just in visiting classes more laughter and more happy students,” Leeper said.

Despite the small class sizes, Leeper manages to keep costs low: in 2013-14, Kindezi’s cost per student was roughly $4,000 less than it was at traditional Atlanta Public Schools. (The Kindezi Schools are authorized by the Atlanta Public Schools.) He explained that his schools operate with lean administrations and make some tough staffing decisions. There is no dedicated librarian, language, or music teacher, for example.

“I’m sometimes at a loss at how this is so hard for everyone else,” Leeper said.

Today, 70% of Kindezi’s students live below the poverty line, and the first Kindezi School is one of the top-performing schools in Atlanta. According to the Georgia Department of Education, in 2014 it outperformed 75% of Georgia’s schools on the state’s standardized exams.

Leeper says Kindezi has helped students make great strides but still has a lot left to accomplish: “Something that I am very intentional about is making sure that we do not get too comfortable since we have not entirely closed the gap. It’s not time to be self-congratulatory.”