Monarch Academy's first 6 months go smoothly, but tests await

Six months later and the walls are covered, floor to ceiling, with a full-color mural depicting what Glen Burnie was like before Ritchie and Crain highways. It's a reminder of Maryland's long history.

"It sends them the message about being a citizen and that school is important," Principal Maurine Larkin said. "The students understand they are a part of something bigger."

Halfway into its first year, the county's third-generation charter school appears to be thriving. Students are engaged in an "expeditionary learning program" designed by the school, and school staff members are preparing for a new wave of students coming through expansion.

"The students are starting to hold each other accountable and really getting into it," Larkin said.

The tranquil first six months at Monarch are in contrast to the experience of the county's first attempts at a charter school. KIPP academy in Edgewater closed in 2008. Chesapeake Science Point in Hanover has survived, but at times its future was in doubt.

This month, Monarch faces its first go at the Maryland School Assessment Tests, and how the school performs will, in the end, be how it is judged.

"Standardized tests are an evaluation of the school's progress," said Kathy Lane, director of alternative education and safe schools for the county. "We will be interested in the students' performance on a number of formative and summative assessment measures."

Expeditionary learning is at the core of the school's educational philosophy. Students spend their entire year on one broad topic, using all subjects to relate back to the main theme.

First-graders, for example, currently are studying ancient civilizations. They've already been to the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C., and The Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, checking out mummy sarcophagi and busts of pharaohs. Now they are working on a play based on an Egyptian Cinderella.

"They are very excited about it," first-grade teacher Robert Noble said. "It's really the thing that has brought us together."

Monarch also is gearing up for next week's

Maryland School Assessments, the mandatory, standardized state tests used to determine if a school is successfully teaching its students. Only the school's fifth-graders will be tested this year.

"Things are getting kind of crazy around here as we prepare for the testing," Larkin said. "But we are confident that we will do well."

Next on the horizon for Monarch is expansion. In August, it will take on 130 new students as the school adds sixth- and second-grade classes. The school also is hiring six new teachers, a dean of academics and a guidance counselor.

The school will host three informational sessions and two open houses leading up to the fall-admission application deadline on April 15.

A smoother ride

Larkin and her team of teachers and administrators have avoided much of the controversy that has followed Chesapeake Science Point since it opened in 2005 in Hanover.

In January, parents and school officials had to fight to convince the county Board of Education to approve a ninth-grade class. It was seen as a life or death moment for the school.

Chesapeake Science also has struggled with management and bookkeeping problems, county school officials said. Most recently, it missed the deadline for expansion by submitting its plans in October instead of July.

"We are not familiar with the bureaucracies in the typical educational establishment," said Spear Lancaster, spokesman for Chesapeake Science Point. "There were are lot of things that we ran into that we didn't think would be in conflict."

And that may be one of the crucial differences between the experience of Monarch and Chesapeake Charter. Larkin was a veteran county schools educator, and the school is a product of The Children's Guild, a Baltimore-based nonprofit education foundation. It also operates a school in the same building for children with special-education needs.

The county's next charter project is a contract school called Imagine Global Village Academy. The K-8 school is planned for Maryland City. The county is developing the school with the help of Imagine Schools, a national charter school chain.

Lane said county schools are looking to work only with people experienced in education for future charter schools.

"We've found through our experience that it's very hard for these mom and pops to get it done," Lane said.

The informational sessions for Monarch are being held from 6:30 to 8 p.m. March 18 and 25 and April 8. Reservations are required for the open houses that are being held from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. March 24 and April 7.