Compass Montessori a Working School

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Contributed by Your Hub
September 14, 2007

The Compass Montessori Charter School in Golden is designed to allow students to work together on projects that range from building a skateboard ramp and tending a community garden to refining their math and Spanish skills.

The school has 341 students, and that's from kindergarten to 12th grade. According to Katy Myers, the head of school, "It's the only preK-12 public Montessori school in the region."

From a distance it looks like a barn, and according to the Myers, that's intentional because middle-school-aged students, who are referred to as belonging to the Farm School, are engaged in agricultural endeavors.

"We have grants from the Colorado Home & Garden Show that have allowed us to develop the land. Every year we bring in some baby pigs as part of our operating farm," she said.

Families of students are involved and required to put in 50 hours per year as volunteers. "We have a very supportive parent base." Myers added.

"The students learn to work. The adolescents take the concrete concepts they learn through work on the farm and then are able to apply these concepts to academic learning. For example, the students learn the chemistry of our water and how it affects the farm.

The farm is part of the design inherent in the Montessori method, developed in Italy by doctor-educator Maria Montessori 100 years ago.

Myers said many people think of Montessori as being only for toddlers and preschoolers, but here it is the methodology from early ages through high school graduation. She stressed that although older students may be in contact with younger students, the activity must be "meaningful and purposeful."

Myers said another confusion exists because people think of Montessori as being only private. But this school is a charter school within the Jefferson County School District.

"This is a public school," she said. Myers complimented the parent work force that helped build the structures that house the various age groups on the campus, which is situated on a rise just above 44th Avenue, with a backdrop of Table Mountain.

There are 45 full- and part-time staff members. Myers said the school is one of six public Montessori high schools in the nation. "Our seniors are required to apply to three colleges of their choice. Last year 100 percent of the students were accepted into their first choice. There were 22 in that graduating class."

Myers said although the school would never have a high school class more than 95, she said the middle-school can accommodate up to 110 students and currently has a few openings.

Myers said the size of the school now is probably where it should be both in terms of square footage and census in order to maintain that community feeling.

Myers is a founding member of the school and has three children, all of whom attend the school.