World-wide System of Schools

There are presently about 900 recognized Waldorf schools world-wide as well as about 2,000 kindergartens. Germany, the United States and the Netherlands have the largest number of schools, while Norway, Switzerland and the Netherlands have the greatest concentration of schools per population.

United States

Milestones in the early years of Waldorf education include:

1928 - Rudolf Steiner School of New York City is founded by a group of dedicated anthroposophists.

1941 - The Myrins found the Kimberton Waldorf School in Pennsylvania.

1947 - The Myrins found the Waldorf School of Garden City, as part of Adelphi University.

1942 - Mrs. Emmett founds High Mowing Waldorf School, a boarding high school in Wilton, New Hampshire.

Three more Waldorf schools were founded in the 1950s, and five in the 1960s. In 1968 the original Association of Waldorf Schools was founded with these twelve schools. With the 1970s came phenomenal growth leading to the more than 250 schools and early childhood programs today [citation needed]. Thirty seven new high schools have been started in the last decade.

In the 1980s, the first public Waldorf school was established when a principal of an inner-city public school in Milwaukee became interested in using Waldorf methods. The school is now known as the Urban Waldorf Elementary School of Milwaukee. The next public school to incorporate Waldorf methodology was the John Morse Waldorf Method Magnet School in Sacramento, California. A number of public school systems in other cities, including Los Angelos, have also established public Waldorf schools.

Waldorf charter schools have been established in California, Arizona and possibly other states.

In the 1990s, a Waldorf school was established in the Pine Ridge Native American reservation in South Dakota as a bridge between the traditional spirituality of the Native American peoples and modern American society.

The U.S., Canadian and Mexican schools join together in the Association of Waldorf Schools of North America.