Ideas matter. And wrong ideas have led most American schools down the wrong path in recent decades. As a parent, you should learn about these ideas and how we can overcome them to make schools places where all students can thrive. For the curious parent ready for a deeper dive, watch this 7 minute explainer:
Three bad ideas:
1. Matters of right and wrong are up to each individual.
2. Knowledge is not important.
3. Students will learn to read “naturally” and don’t need phonics instruction.
At Monticello Academy, we believe:
1. Values like respect, integrity, service and friendship, and work should be taught and reinforced both at home and at school.
2. Knowledge is the good stuff! Schools should purposefully and systematically build students’ background knowledge, especially their understanding of history and culture.
3. Students need a systematic curriculum of phonics to become fluent, confident, joyful readers.
Did you know that most schools don’t have a knowledge curriculum? They have a skills curriculum.
What does that mean?
It means that they don’t have a plan for teaching students many of the things we expect students to learn in school, like history, literature, and the arts. Instead they focus on the bland “skills” called for by state standardized tests.
Instead of teaching great books, they teach kids to read and answer questions.
Instead of wrestling with big ideas, they practice using “context clues” and other skills on the state test.
Instead of learning about the great eras and achievements of human history, they learn vague “social studies skills” that might sound smart but are actually curiosity-killers, like this one from the 3rd grade state standards: “Evaluate key factors that determine how a community develops.” (Huh?)
How We Solve It
At Monticello Academy, it’s different. We have a content-rich curriculum, with history as its backbone and infused with literature and the arts. When you ask your child, “What did you learn at school today?” instead of the typical shrug of the shoulders–“I don’t know….we did some worksheets”)–you’re likely to hear enthusiastic responses:
“We learned about the Egyptian pharaohs!” (1st grade)
“We learned about when when the British burned the White House in the War of 1812!” (2nd grade)
“We learned about the Black Plague!” (4th grade)
“We learned about the Reign of Terror in the French Revolution!” (6th grade)
In every grade level, starting in kindergarten, we strategically building student knowledge of U.S. and World history and geography, classic works of art and music, and great works of literature.
Results
But what about those all-important tests? With an emphasis on rich content knowledge, our students actually outperform other students–even on skills tests! Monticello students achieved the highest average school report scores among nearby schools in northwest Davis County.
The great thing about putting knowledge at the center of a curriculum is that research shows that knowledge is actually one of the most important foundations for strong academic performance.
Check out this article from the Atlantic Monthly about why the skills-based, test-driven approach to education has been counter-productive.
Conclusion
So why don’t more schools focus on knowledge?
For one, because it’s hard.
What knowledge will be taught? There’s so much of it, and deciding which facts to include or leave out can be difficult (and contentious). At Monticello Academy, we use the Core Knowledge Sequence. For over thirty years, a diverse body of educators and scholars, led by E.D. Hirsch, have organized a body of knowledge–the things we would expect a patriotic and knowledgeable American to know–into topics for each grade level. This allows our students to gain knowledge in a coherent, chronological, and unforgettable way.
Our knowledge-rich curriculum is a key part of our mission to give students the foundation they need to succeed in all areas of academics and life.
Utah recently released its school report cards for the 2022-23 school year. While we will never put test scores above character education and a well-rounded, history-rich curriculum, it is great to see our kids ranked #1 among all nearby schools!
What’s the secret to our kids’ success?
Great teachers! We work hard to recruit and develop the best teachers out there. After being selected through a rigorous process, teachers typically get feedback or coaching every two to three weeks. This amounts to 6X or more the feedback and support that teachers get in typical Utah schools. (In a recent survey of Utah teachers, the #1 thing they said they wanted was more feedback!)
Rich content. We don’t organize our curriculum around the bland, skills-based, test-aligned worksheets and digital programs out there. Our kids get the good stuff: actual history, literature, and culture in every grade level. Why wait until 5th grade to learn U.S. History? Our first graders are learning about the American Revolution. Why wait until 6th grade to learn about world history and geography? Our second graders are learning about Ancient Greece. We use the Core Knowledge Sequence to ensure our students get a rich, thoughtfully-sequenced, content-rich curriculum in every grade level. Ask our kids what they learned about in school today. They’re not likely to shrug and say, “I don’t know.” Their eyes will light up as the tell you stories from history and classic literature.
Well-rounded curriculum. As much as we believe in academic excellence, we know that children learn and grow best when given wide-ranging experiences. Every year our students, get a high-quality program in music, art, physical education, and computer science.
High expectations. In an age when standards seem to get lower and lower, we keep the bar high, both academically and behaviorally. We believe children live up to what is expected of them. At Monticello Academy, teaching principles of character such as integrity, respect, and hard work are just as important as strong academic preparation.
We will open more seats for the 2024-25, so apply starting November 20th or sign up for tour if you would like to learn more!
At Monticello Academy West Point in Davis County, despite our great academic results, we don’t tell kids that they’re smart.
You might wonder, why not? Won’t that give them confidence?
Actually, it’s almost the opposite.
Stanford scholar Carol Dweck has studied how children’s beliefs about intelligence affect their behavior. Some children believe that we can grow our intelligence through hard work (which is true). This “growth mindset” results in resilience through failure and a willingness to work hard and grow. Other children (and many adults!) believe that their intelligence is fixed. This “fixed mindset” leads people to try to protect their perceived status by avoiding failure and challenges.
The Research
One of Dweck’s studies is summarized here (and here) by cognitive scientist Daniel Willingham:
“In one experiment, fifth-graders worked a set of 10 problems and all were told they had done well. In addition, some were praised for their intelligence (‘You must be smart at these problems’), whereas others were praised for their effort (‘You must have tried hard on these problems’). Yet others were given no further feedback. The children were then given the chance to select problems that were described as easy (and which they’d probably get right), or problems they’d learn a lot from (even if they would not ‘look so smart’).
“The results were striking: children praised for their intelligence chose easy problems—they wanted to succeed and worried about looking unintelligent. Children praised for their effort chose difficult tasks because they wanted to learn. And when given a choice between discovering how other children performed on the problems or learning new strategies for solving the problems, the children praised for their intelligence wanted to know how others performed. Children praised for effort, in contrast, wanted to learn new strategies.”
How We Build A Growth Mindset
As a school that tries to promote a growth mindset (in ourselves as well as our students), we…
Teach students about growth mindset and brain plasticity. Students need to know the amazing and empowering fact that our brains and our intelligence can grow with effort!
Avoid “fixed mindset” labels. If a student does well on something, we don’t tell them they’re “smart” (Natural conclusion: If I don’t do well on something, that must mean I’m not smart.)
Praise effort! “Wow, you must have worked hard on that.” “I love how you took your time to think through that part of the problem.”
Never try to sell something to students by telling them it’s easy. I once heard a teacher tell her students, “Don’t worry; this activity will be easy.” Wait, does that mean students should worry if something is hard? No! We should dig into hard things with enthusiasm, not worry! We don’t want easy. We want challenges! Besides, what if it’s actually not easy for a student? How will they feel then?
Conclusion
We are a school where we promote the joy of challenging ourselves and celebrate hard work. In our classrooms, then, instead of, “Wow! You got that right! You’re so smart!” we hear things like:
“This assignment is a challenge! I think you’ll enjoy trying to figure it out.”
“Look at these end-of-year results! I am so proud of your hard work.”
At Monticello Academy’s West Point campus, kindergarten students are participating in fun and inventive activities in the classroom. Thanks to the school’s amazing kindergarten teachers, Ms. Bean and Ms. Mcbride, students have celebrated the 100th day of school, Dr. Seuss day, a marriage between Q and U, and more!
All of these great activities continue to build kindergarten students’ love of school and contribute to the school’s high early reading growth scores. Monticello Academy West Point finished the 2020-21 school year with the highest reading growth scores in Davis County (compared to other districts and charter schools).
The marriage between Q and U serves as an easy way to remind West Point kindergarten students that in the English language, the letter Q will (almost) always come paired with U.
March 2nd, which is Dr. Seuss’s birthday and also the birthday and the National Education Association, is a day celebrated across the country that promotes the importance of reading. For Dr. Seuss day, the West Point kindergarten students read The Cat in The Hat, including some fun decorations and activities.
During the celebration of the 100th day of school, Ms. Mcbride and Ms. Bean dressed up as if they were 100 years old and students celebrated with lots of counting and math games.
These classroom celebrations give kindergartners a space to play and learn in the classroom, leading to strong academic achievement AND joy in learning.
With Monticello Academy’s well-rounded, rigorous Core Knowledge curriculum and the amazing work of our West Point kindergarten teachers, students in north Davis County have a great environment to learn and grow. Add in the school’s specials classes, which include art, music, and physical education, and Monticello Academy may be the school for you.
Starting in the 2022-23 school year, Monticello Academy West Point will be offering full-day kindergarten as a choice for parents and families in the north Davis County area. If you are interested in enrolling your kindergarten student in Monticello Academy, be sure to apply now as seats for the 2022-23 school year are limited. CLICK HERE to apply.
Monticello Academy is excited to announce that next school year, 2022-2023, the school will be offering the option of full-day kindergarten for parents and families at both the West Point and Highbury campuses.
All parents will be able to choose between full-day kindergarten or half-day kindergarten. The half-day program will focus on math and reading. Kindergartners who already demonstrate academic preparedness for first grade may also have the option of a half-day program focused on art, music, history, and science.
We look forward to having many of our kindergarteners on campus for the full day next year!
