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Massachusetts Charter Schools

Charter Schools Best Practices

River Valley Charter School

Montessori Made Public

Topics:	School Mission Instructional Practices Developing, refining, and documenting curricula Internal and/or external student assessment systems
Mission:	The mission of the River Valley Charter School is to provide a rigorous academic program based on the Montessori philosophy and rooted in the history, culture, and ecology of the Merrimack River Valley. Students will reach their full potential as scholars and as self-reliant, productive members of society. They will be adept at critical problem solving and will be fully prepared to succeed in future schools, careers, and civic life. RVCS works with curriculum partners such as the Massachusetts Audubon Society, the Maritime Museum, and the Parker River Clean Water Association, utilizing the vast resources available in the Merrimack River Valley. These partnerships allow students to use the community as both a source of knowledge and a means of applying what they learn.
Goals:	1. To document and share an assessment system to validate the success of a public Montessori school 2. To refine and disseminate the toolsets created by the school to measure improved student achievement realized by the Montessori method 3. To produce a documentary about the school’s work and hold workshops to share their success
Summary:	Montessori Made Public. River Valley Charter School is a regional public Montessori school serving students from Amesbury, Newbury, Newburyport, Salisbury, and West Newbury. The school’s students enroll by means of a lottery, with the only preference given to siblings. River Valley Charter School is the first Montessori public school in Massachusetts, and the first to start "from scratch," with a majority of students having no previous Montessori experience. In 2003, the school, which serves 300 students in kindergarten through 8th grade, applied for a federal dissemination grant through the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to fund Montessori Made Public. Through this program, the school has researched, documented, and refined the assessment system already implemented at their school (the River Valley Assessment Toolkit), with a purpose of establishing that River Valley and the Montessori way had provided the right kind of educational environment, support, and coaching that would allow students to acquire and develop the knowledge and skills they would need to access high quality secondary and post-secondary educational opportunities. In 2004, the school applied for an additional federal dissemination grant to launch a comprehensive documentation and sharing of Montessori Made Public. Through the production of a documentary DVD and a series of workshops, the school aims to share its own successes and challenges in establishing a public Montessori charter school, as well as those experiences of two other schools—a charter school in Jefferson County, Colorado, and a district public school in Yonkers, New York. The professionally-produced DVD provides an introduction to Montessori Made Public and the application of the Montessori model and philosophy to a public school environment. Specifically, the video highlights the River Valley Assessment Toolkit, which was refined in 2003 with support from the federal dissemination program. The DVD also addresses the use and success of the Montessori philosophy and materials in preparing public school students to perform well on state-mandated testing systems under No Child Left Behind, as well as explores the contributions made by each of the three profiled schools to the overall public education landscape within their communities. Notably, River Valley hosted the first Montessori Public School Conference at its school in 2008. The school attracted over 90 educators and administrators from each of the five other public Montessori schools in the state (including Zanetti and Gerenca Elementary Schools in Springfield; Placentino Elementary School in Holliston; Tobin Montessori School in Cambridge; and Hillview Montessori Charter School in Haverhill). Through this conference, the schools shared successes resulting from the application of the Montessori model to a public school setting, as well as the challenges to doing so. Attendees observed classes and met in focus groups to discuss topics of their choice.
Partner(s):
Dates:	01/01/2003 01/01/2004
Contact:	Dale Bishop, Director (dabishop80@yahoo.com/ 978-465-0065)
Resources:	DVD, Montessori Made Public. Contact the school for more information.
Federal Charter Schools Program Funds?	Yes

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Last Updated: January 26, 2024

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