Clear Direction Schools

We don't teach students what to think. We teach them how.

Students learn to analyze a problem, map its context, and build a strategy, in classes small enough that every teacher knows every name. That was the standard in 1990 and it's the standard today.

See it in practice

A teacher working through a build with three students

Thinkers, not test-takers

The future belongs to students who think in layers, who can analyze a problem, map its context, and build a strategy. Ours learn through real-world labs, field research, and hands-on projects that develop thinkers ready to contribute something meaningful to the world around them.

A teacher and a young student at the classroom screen

Known, loved, challenged

Every student deserves to be known, loved, and challenged, and small classes are the foundation that makes it possible. When teachers know every student by name, they can push them further, hold them to a higher standard, and develop the kind of thinkers who don't just absorb information but do something with it.

Built for what's next

Our graduates are critical thinkers, confident communicators, and strategic problem-solvers, prepared to contribute meaningfully wherever they go. We develop the skills that define great leaders: self-direction, contextual reasoning, and the ability to navigate complexity with confidence.

Designed to take students somewhere.

Students learn best by doing, so the day is built around it: labs, field research, businesses, buildings, food, films, and the kind of problems that don't come with an answer key.

Rigorous academics, real results

Hands-on learning doesn't mean we lower the bar. It means our students clear it. Students test in the top quarter nationally on benchmark assessments, the schools consistently outperform local and state standards, and graduates are admitted to the high schools and colleges of their choice because they've been held to a higher standard from day one.

1280Average SAT

100%College acceptance

93%Attend a four-year college

Top 25%Nationally on benchmark assessments

Montessori early childhood
Led by credentialed Montessori teachers, PreK through kindergarten.
Project Lead The Way STEM
Two dedicated labs with robotics, coding, 3D design, drones, and flight simulators.
Advanced Placement and dual enrollment
College credit through Valencia College before graduation.
Eleven specialized pathways
Aeronautics, biomedical technology, entrepreneurship, culinary arts, agricultural science, and more.
Learning support and gifted programs
Research-based, so every student is met where they are.
Graduates have gone on to Stanford, Columbia, NYU, the University of Florida, Purdue, Embry-Riddle, and the United States Naval Academy.

A student harvesting lettuce in the school greenhouse

Kinesthetic learning

Our students don't sit and absorb. They build robots, launch businesses, design buildings, grow food, and produce films. Every program is rooted in a hands-on approach that develops critical thinking through real application, and students learn to identify problems, think through solutions, and execute. This is education designed to solve real-world problems, not rehearse for a test.

Specialized programs

Eleven programs, none of them electives in the usual sense: each one is where curiosity meets real-world application.

Biomedical Technology
Robotics
Aeronautics
Coding & Programming
Entrepreneurship
Engineering Essentials
Farm-to-Table Culinary
Graphic Design
Video Production
Agriculture
Personal Finance

The original Central Florida Community School building

1990

Our story

In 1990, Bob and Rowena Flanders converted a warehouse into three classrooms and opened Central Florida Community School with seven students. They believed that every child deserved to be known by name, challenged to think critically, and supported by teachers who genuinely cared. They didn't have deep pockets and they had no investors, just a conviction that education could be done differently.

Today

What started with seven students now spans two schools, 11 acres, nearly 1,000 students, and 125 staff members. Our graduates get into the high schools and universities of their choice, not because they were drilled on test prep, but because they learned how to think, communicate, and lead.

A graduate walking the hallway to applause

“The point of a school isn’t to fill a child with answers. It’s to make them hungry for questions.”
Robert A. Flanders, Founder1950-2002

Our schools

A Growing Network

Crestwell School

Fort Myers, Florida · PreK through 8th Grade

330 Students

12:1 Student-Staff Ratio

189% Enrollment Growth

Founded in 1994, Crestwell School is a hands-on learning community where students develop critical thinking, confidence, and strategic problem-solving skills. Crestwell School has worked with Clear Direction since 2018, and it serves 330 students today.

Visit Crestwell School

Central Florida Preparatory School

Orlando, Florida · PreK through 12th Grade

630+ Students

1280 Average SAT

10+ Specialized Programs

The founding school of Clear Direction Schools, Central Florida Prep has grown from seven students in a converted warehouse to over 630 students across PreK through 12th grade. With 10+ specialized programs and graduates attending Stanford, Columbia, and the nation's top universities, CFP is proof that the model works.

Visit Central Florida Prep

Development Projects

CompletedOpened August 2026

Bob Flanders Athletic & Performing Arts Center

A 20,000 sq ft expansion at Central Florida Prep that increases student capacity to 712. The center brings a full culinary kitchen, 12 additional classrooms, and a performing arts stage to a campus that started with three classrooms in a warehouse.

In Pre-Construction

Crestwell School
Middle School Expansion

A 25,000 sq ft expansion adding 250 student stations, a dedicated STEM lab, art lab, and music studio. Built to give our middle school students more space, more resources, and more room to grow.

Partner With Us

If you'd like to talk about working with us, we'd like to hear from you.

Enrollment growth engine generating 500+ qualified inquiries per campus annually, built and run in-house
Repeatable operational model for growing independent schools in alignment with their mission
Thirty-five years inside Florida's independent-school community: its markets and its people

Start a conversation

Questions we're asked.

Who is behind Clear Direction Schools?

A family. Bob and Rowena Flanders opened the first school in 1990, and the second generation leads the company today.

Where is Clear Direction Schools based?

Orlando, Florida, with schools in Orlando and Fort Myers.

What does Clear Direction Schools do?

We build and operate independent schools. For other schools we do three things: acquisitions, management, and campus development.

Growing minds
and the
schools
around them

We don't teach students what to think. We teach them how.

Thinkers, not test-takers

Known, loved, challenged

Built for what's next