Our Story: The Mission Behind Whitmore School

A School Built by Parents, for Families Like Yours

When parents create a school, they build the kind of education they wish had existed for their own child.

Whitmore School wasn’t founded by investors or education corporations. It was created by parents who understood firsthand that not every student thrives in a traditional classroom.

Our story begins with two families, two remarkable students, and one shared belief:

Every child deserves a learning environment where they can succeed.

Amber’s Story

Amber was bright, curious, and loved learning.

She had always excelled in school, but when she entered high school, everything changed. She became bored academically, and the social environment grew increasingly difficult. Eventually, simply walking through the school doors became overwhelming.

Her parents made the difficult decision to withdraw her and begin homeschooling. While homeschooling solved some problems, it created another—Amber learned so quickly that they struggled to keep pace with her. She eagerly consumed every textbook and curriculum they could find.

In 1994, the Internet was still in its infancy. Long before online learning became common, Amber’s father, Stan, recognized its incredible potential.

He imagined a school where students could receive a quality education from anywhere, free from many of the barriers that prevented them from succeeding in traditional classrooms.

That vision became CompuHigh, the world’s first online high school.

What began as one father’s solution for his daughter has since helped thousands of students around the world discover a better way to learn.

In 2005, CompuHigh, doing business as Whitmore School, earned accreditation through NCA-CASI, now Cognia, recognizing the quality and rigor of its academic programs.

Alina’s Story

Like Amber, Alina was intelligent and capable.

She loved English but struggled with math. In a traditional classroom, those struggles became public. Every wrong answer chipped away at her confidence until school became a place she wanted to avoid.

When her mother, Ellen, discovered that Alina had begun skipping school, she knew her daughter didn’t need less education—she needed a different educational environment.

That’s when she discovered Whitmore School.

Without the pressure of keeping pace with an entire classroom, Alina could learn at her own speed. Whitmore’s mastery-based approach allowed her to revise assignments until she truly understood the material rather than simply moving on after a failed test.

A school with mastery learning and no chapter tests was a good fit for Alina. Over time, something remarkable happened.

Alina stopped believing she “wasn’t good at school.” She realized she simply learned differently.

As her confidence grew, so did her academic success. She graduated early and entered college prepared to work independently, manage her time, and take ownership of her education.

Carrying the Mission Forward

Watching her daughter rediscover a love of learning inspired Ellen to help other families find the same opportunity.

She founded South Carolina Whitmore School, adapting the CompuHigh and Whitmore School curriculum and online systems into a successful public charter school. Under her leadership, the school became one of South Carolina’s highest-performing virtual charter schools.

When Stan began considering retirement, he wanted the school he had built from the ground up to remain in the hands of people who understood its mission—not simply as educators, but as parents.

He knew that Alina’s family shared the same passion for helping students discover their own path to success.

Today, Whitmore School continues that mission, serving students across the United States and around the world with the same commitment that inspired its founding more than three decades ago.

Every Student Deserves the Right Fit

Traditional schools work well for many students.

But they aren’t the right fit for everyone.

Some students are gifted and need greater flexibility. Others balance athletics, performing arts, careers, or family responsibilities. Some have experienced bullying, anxiety, health challenges, or simply learn best at their own pace.

Whitmore School exists for those students.

Our mastery-based, self-paced approach empowers students to build confidence, develop independence, and achieve meaningful academic success.

Thousands of graduates have proven what Amber and Alina discovered years ago:

Success isn’t about fitting into one educational model. It’s about finding the environment where you can thrive.

Whitmore School Mission

Whitmore School seeks to provide a supportive, challenging, and alternate learning environment. Students are encouraged to be in charge of their education, giving them the opportunity to develop creativity, independence, responsibility, time management, and critical thinking skills. We emphasize mastery of all academic courses, allowing students to view themselves as capable of achieving their educational goals.