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News & Information
Bucks County Charter School Provides Strong Elementary Education through Montessori Methods
December 11, 2005
"One test of the correctness of educational procedure is the happiness of the child." - Maria Montessori
So how does a school ensure students' happiness while providing a quality education? A Bucks County charter school found the answer lies in giving students freedom to work at their own pace, providing ample individualized attention, and allowing each child to build upon his or her own successes.
Serving grades K-6, the Bucks County Montessori Charter School (BCMCS), located in Levittown, PA, puts into practice such principles, as developed one century ago by Italian educator Maria Montessori. She believed and proved that children learn best by doing. And so, through a hands-on approach to learning, BCMCS students advance at their own pace as they develop skills in thinking, writing, reading, science, and mathematics.
"There is no ceiling at BCMCS," said Principal John Funston. "Each student is given the opportunity to advance as far and as fast as he or she is able. There are no roadblocks and no one is under-challenged."
Founded in 2000, BCMCS quickly reached full capacity. Approximately 50 families are on the waiting list each year, hoping to have an opportunity to provide their children with a unique educational experience.
Students who attend BCMCS enjoy the best of two worlds: Montessori education in a charter school setting. While BCMCS is fully a Montessori school, it is also a charter school. And since charter schools are publicly funded schools, BCMCS families pay no tuition fees as they otherwise would in traditional Montessori schools.
Classes are held in small group settings that have no more than a 1:11 teacher-student ratio. This allows teachers to provide each child with individualized attention along with guided and specific student feedback.
A typical day at BCMCS begins with an uninterrupted three-hour block of time during which students focus on literacy and math. The students individually choose which order they wish to accomplish their projects and then set out to do so at their own pace. During the afternoon, students learn about cultural arts, sciences, and humanities.
Classes are broken into three main groups: primary, which is Kindergarten only; lower elementary, which is a mix of students in grades 1-3; and the upper elementary which is a mix of students in grades 4-6. This multi-age approach to classroom grouping promotes the Montessori principle of community education.
Older students serve as role models for the younger and help them advance along their journey of learning.
The school uses several reading programs to address the needs of all learners: Reading for Meaning (skills based program); Jr. Great Books (Analysis based program), Lindamood-Bell (phonics based program); and leveled chapter books and SRAs (for independent leveled reading). In Kindergarten and grades 1-3, BCMCS addresses "5 Big Ideas" in early reading instruction: phonological awareness, vocabulary, alphabetic principle (decoding), text comprehension, and fluency. As students become more skilled in reading, the focus moves toward analyzing the content of the text.
In grades 4-6, students concentrate on comparison, evaluation, synthesis and text analysis through the Jr. Great Books program.
These programs have helped students make remarkable achievements, but perhaps the crown jewel of the BCMCS curriculum is its math program. Rather than simply learn math, the students experience math. Students are shown rather than just taught-which substantially helps them to develop stronger and more retainable skills. For example, the students are given beads for counting. The students sort the beads into blocks of hundreds and then are shown how to count to 1,000 by bringing 10 blocks of beads together. This method shows the students addition in action which in turn gives them a deeper understanding and "feel" for arithmetic. Once students master that concept, they logically move on to multiplication, subtraction, then division. The concepts become more complex as they advance in grade levels-but it's not uncommon to see BCMCS Kindergarten students count into sums of several thousand.
"Our math program is concretely founded in the Montessori method of providing students with experience rather than lecture - showing rather than telling," said Funston. "Rather than using the traditional methods of memorization and rote, we guide students into the mathematical process through a visual and hands-on method. This works well for students of all learning styles and abilities."
The school's program is an apparent success. BCMCS students made AYP each year, scoring above state averages. Students' PSSA math scores are well above the state average: last year the third grade scored 88%; fifth grade scored 82%. BCMCS students' Terra Nova test scores are also impressive as they continuously score higher than the national average.
"The Montessori Method combined with these math and reading models are the secret to our success," said Funston. "But even more so is the commitment of our dedicated teachers and the close involvement of the students' families. This tight-knit community of learners has made BCMCS a coveted home of learning."
For more information about the Bucks County Montessori Charter School, visit www.bcmcs.com.
More than 50,000 students are enrolled in Pennsylvania's 114 charter schools throughout the Commonwealth. These schools include a host of distinctive missions: early childhood enrichment, specific academic disciplines, high achievement, core knowledge, technology, project based learning, special needs education, gifted education, community service and more. For more information on charter school opportunities within Pennsylvania, log on to www.pachartercoaltion.com.
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