MATES is a free, public charter school with students in grades K-5. Because a charter is independent of a larger district, it is able to make more targeted decisions about teaching strategies and curriculum in a swift and efficient manner. A committee comprised of staff, parents, and working professionals wrote the curriculum framework over the course of a year and a half. Teachers will rely heavily on resource-based materials (core literature selections, periodicals, electronic research, library selections/primary resources, teacher-created lessons, field trips/field study, resident artists/professionals, community resources, and electronic field trips) to deliver a high quality program to MATES students. The focus is on academic rigor in an arts and technology-infused environment.

Skills and Attributes

MATES students will develop meaningful skills in social and academic realms, with the opportunity to develop an awareness of their innate artistic and creative abilities through our arts and technology focus. Students will become creative problem solvers, sophisticated in interacting cooperatively, resolving conflicts peacefully, researching/analyzing data, and engaging in a democratic society while being challenged to achieve in the core basics of reading, writing, speaking, listening, critical thinking, computing, reasoning, and solving mathematical problems.

Learning Environment:

• supports questioning, experimentation, self-expression, creativity and appropriate risk-taking
• encourages multi-disciplinary and cross-curricular study
• models and requires high-level thinking skills and communication skills, including synthesis and analysis
• models continued learning, interest and enthusiasm
• models reflection and self-assessment
• is rich and demanding and promotes depth of learning (as opposed to memorization only)
• creates opportunities for knowledge to be applied to real-world contexts
• provides a variety of ways for students to engage in coursework and in the school community

Curriculum Highlights:

• Common Core instruction through Backwards Design
• Project-Based Learning
• Integration of the Arts and Technology
• Professional Development for staff based on school goals and mission
• Multiple Assessment Methods
• Data-Driven Focus
• Specialists in music, visual art, science, PE, computers, and dance that teach from state standards in collaboration with teachers to compliment units of study and further integrate the arts and technology across the curriculum