City Garden Montessori

Montessori is an explorative and holistic educational approach intended to evoke imagination, to aid abstraction, to generate a world view about the human task and purpose. The child works within a philosophical system, asking questions about the origins of the universe, the nature of life, people, and their differences. On a factual basis, interdisciplinary studies combine geological, biological, and anthropological science in the study of natural history and world ecology. Integration across subjects, the presentation of knowledge as large-scale narratives - aided by visuals, concrete materials and manipulatives, and creativity are cornerstones of teaching and learning at City Garden. They believe anti-bias education must take an active, problem-solving approach that is integrated into all aspects of an existing curriculum and a school’s environment. City Garden's anti‐bias curriculum promotes an understanding of social problems and invites students to invent strategies for improving social conditions.

City Garden is a racially and socioeconomically diverse-by-design community - they are nearly 50% white and 50% BIPOC and 40% FRP. Their culture takes an explicit Anti-Bias/Antiracism (ABAR) stance in that it promotes learning about each other’s differences, invites children to be proud of themselves and their families, teaches students to respect and honor differences, recognize bias, and speak up for what is right. City Garden strives to be a space for members of the surrounding neighborhoods to gather, learn and get to know each other, and in which families and community members feel a sense of ownership and pride, and a place that will be a source of hope and vitality for our community.

The school is divided into a PreK, Lower Elementary, Upper Elementary, and Middle School. Within each school, classes are mixed-age. Learners engage in two to three hours of uninterrupted work blocks per day, called "challenging work".

City Garden recruits a diverse staff, who engages in regular staff training to advance ABAR, such as using ABAR language, discussing readings, sharing personal and instructional practices to advance ABAR, and engaging in deep, often uncomfortable, reflections. In addition to the strong ABAR stance all adults take, City Garden has also developed particular organizational roles to meet its commitments (e.g., director of racial equity curriculum and training) as well as identified coaches to help other teachers along their ABAR journey. According to Montessori, the role of teachers is to "manage the environment, not the student,” as Huck said. Teachers may occasionally provide lessons but most time is spent observing, guiding, and removing barriers for student learning.

City Garden has a valuable sponsorship with the University of St. Louis. Serving as a sponsor further engages the University’s faculty, staff, and students in the St. Louis community, and furthers the University’s commitment to public schooling, innovation in education, and community development. Knowing that parents are partners, City Garden experiences high parental involvement. They provide wraparound services to families. This includes counseling on site, connects families to other social services organizations, and coordinates direct support, such as rent assistance, utility assistance, transportation, housing referrals, and free uniforms. They provide breakfast for any students that need meals and provide free and reduced lunch costs before and after school care for under-resourced families.

The Montessori classroom is a “living room” for children - they are decorated to be warm and engaging spaces. Classrooms are structured such that learning materials are grouped by content area and activities are sequenced by level of difficulty. Furthermore, City Garden classrooms each feature a “peace area,” typically a corner decorated with pillows, cushions, and stuffed animals. Students can self-identify a need to visit the peace area, where they can practice breathing exercises or other stress management activities.

City Garden developed a data dashboard to monitor discipline referrals. Data are segmented by race, special education identification, gender, and age, which enables staff to examine and challenge their practice.

City Garden operates and grows thoughtfully and sustainably. They continuously search for ways to thoughtfully and sustainably expand their impact, recognizing that long-term change happens through adequately resourced, careful, measured growth.

Short-Term Priorities

• To understand and address the education gap between children of color and white children, and between low-income and middle and upper-income children, and to develop strategies to successfully and consistently close these gaps.

Long-Term Priorities

• To further develop an anti-biased, anti-racist Montessori model that can be replicated and shared.

• To develop training programs and opportunities for adults to understand and implement this model.

• To develop an organizational and financial structure that supports this vision and allows for significant growth.