‘City School Rated Perfect by State’
City School Rated Perfect by State: in St. Louis American September 12-18, 2013.
The urban
Montessori city’s charter school located in the Botanical gardens
neighbor hood is in an upcoming gentrified area of south city in Saint
Louis Missouri. When most hear things about the city
it is associated with crime constantly. This school has many suburban
families flocking back to the city in order to get placed on the lottery
for their children to attend this school, which goes up to eighth
grade. Dr. Nicole Evans is the president with
Christie Huck being the Executive Director, the schools test scores are
amazing with there being a mix of students with 51% white, 42% black,
with the remaining 7% a mix of ethnicities. When the school opened
their doors in 2007, to attend this charter school
the family was required to live in the 63110 zip code, now there are
specific boundaries in which the family must live in order to attend
this school.
The catchment
area starts at Midtown by highway 64W and going south to
Gravois/Compton, Kingshighway/Gravois that expanded in order to include a
more diverse student body. This may be one of the highest
ranked schools in the state but there are other schools in the area
that are not performing well. The income of the parents whose children
attend the school is below $40,00 and around 49% of Montessori students
are on free and reduced lunch where as 71.2%
of students are receiving free and reduced lunch in St. Louis public
schools. When the school opened in 2007 the goal was to provide equal
and fair education to a diverse number of students, which is why they
switched from being a private tuition based school
to being a free charter school.
Questions I have and plan to look further into are:
1. How are they doing so
well with educating the students that attend the charter school, but St.
Louis Public Schools are still struggling to produce better testing
scores along side of educating?
2. Is this Montessori
school really that perfect or does it seem this was because the public
schools in the surrounding areas have more students than teachers?
I've read several articles about City Garden, because my daughter attended a Montessori school and I really believe in the model.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.stltoday.com/news/local/education/charter-school-s-success-boosts-city-neighborhoods/article_3d11e703-6c04-5943-8807-45ce06ae9e02.html
The school doesn't have data to prove that the school is improving the neighborhood, but anecdotal evidence shows that families are moving into the neighborhood specifically for the school.
The school was started by the parents, so that is a probably reason for the success: they are motivated. Some of the residents are concerned that they are going to be a victim of their own success. As the neighborhood improves, they are worried that they will be pushed out by families with higher incomes.
I'm hopeful that with the need for a lottery to attend, the influx of higher income families will slow. I'm wondering if they could also tweak the lottery by income level to ensure a mix of students.
It's great to hear about this school creating such a positive environment and improving the community by bringing in new homeowners. The Montessori model is interesting, and seem to fit the way that lots of students are best able to learn. When schools like this lead to improvements in the neighborhood, that is a good thing.
ReplyDeleteJeri, your point about tweaking the lottery to insure a mix of incomes at the school is a good idea. It sounds like something the school would agree with, as the article makes clear that diversity (racial, ethnic, economic, etc) is one of their major priorities.
I believe that education is changing drastically. Just think how can a school be "perfect" when compared to other schools. Students are just trying to get an education, however with technology improving, that limits the knowledge that students are able to learn because the computer does it for them. The comparison of the test scores does not necessarily represent diversity because it shows between black and white students. The lottery needs to be tweaked as Jeri suggested to give everyone an equal opportunity. I would want to know how the people in the neighborhood think about the school, whether it is bringing the neighborhood into a positive aspect or a negative one? Also how do the teachers feel about this?
ReplyDeleteI've always heard many positive things about Montessori schools and the successes they become. Javania, I know you were wondering why this school has done better than the city public schools surrounding it. I wouldn't doubt that it has something to do with the hands on, child-directed teaching styles that are encouraged at the Montessori school. Children learn best through applying their knowledge. Also, I was curious about how successful the test scores are at the Montessori school. Did it provide actual statistics that compare to the other schools in the area?
ReplyDeleteI'm in the 63110 zip code, albeit only for the last few years. From what I can see when I go by there around the time parents are picking up their children, there is constant conversation between the parents and the teachers. We all know people who work in public schools- the teacher-student ratio is totally unbalanced. I've sat in on classes with students where the teacher is barely able to keep track of the 20+ kids, several of whom will have IEPs, and many who, to be perfect honest, are incredibly rude and disrespectful. We need more teachers and teacher assistants in the public schools, but until there is better protection and training (remember Jeri's blog from a few weeks ago? http://umslsw5300.blogspot.com/2013/09/week-5-news-article-blog-jeri.html), public schools will keep struggling.
ReplyDeleteI don't have any facts or statistics to quote, but my bet is that parental investment makes all the difference and although it exists, there's not enough in public schools.
ReplyDeleteI think that it's great to see a school in St. Louis that is truly integrated both racially and socio-economically. As already mentioned by others, parental investment is likely a major contributing factor towards the school’s success. Also according to the school’s website, http://www.citygardenschool.org, it states that their preschool is private, based on a sliding-scale tuition fee. Their K-8 program is chartered but they only accept new enrollees between kindergarten and second grade which would control classroom size. Success of this school therefore may not only be with utilizing Montessori practices, but also the controlled teacher-student ratios, which makes it more like a private school. I wonder if these children’s academic successes will transfer into their high school years and if it would have an effect if they choose a public or private institution.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of Montessori. I think what makes them stand out from other schools is their distinct way of teaching. They are very hands on with children learning from using materials versus a teacher instructing them. From what I remember from a class in my undergrad, Montessori schools allow the children to choose from a range of activities provided by the teacher based on what they want to learn about. As far as the public schools, they just don't have enough resources available to them.
ReplyDelete