Ft. Wayne Refining Plan to Expand Montessori Program

By Mark Anderson

At a time when many public Montessori programs are straining under new standardized testing and curriculum requirements, the Ft. Wayne, Ind. school district is taking a different approach. Rather than curtail its Montessori program, Ft. Wayne decided to double its size and increase spending on Montessori teacher training as part of its strategy for school improvement.

Next year, the district will begin a Montessori expansion that will eventually make room for 800 students and 36 Montessori-certified teachers. The program now enrolls 350.

With a name change approved by the school board in November, the school will reopen next year as Jeff H. Towles Intermediate School .

That move will help Ft. Wayne meet local demand for Montessori classrooms, which has grown steadily since the district opened its first Montessori magnet 15 years ago.

But it's also intended to be part of the district's strategy for meeting the academic requirements of No Child Left Behind - and avoiding what Superintendent Wendy Robinson felt were unjustified NCLB sanctions against an inner city school.

The district's Geyer Middle School program, which was designated a Title I program three years ago, had missed its target NCLB-improvement goals each year since then and was facing the possible loss of control to federal overseers.

Ft. Wayne superintendent Wendy Robinson didn't want to see that stigma attached to a school that was serving one of the district's most challenged populations.

"They're putting a 'failing' label on this program, and we don't see it that way at all," Robinson said. The school serves one of the poorest sections of Ft. Wayne : its portion of students on free and reduced price lunch is at 75 percent and climbing, and its ESL enrollment is also growing. In spite of the good work that Robinson said was going on at Geyer, "There's no way they could run fast enough to keep up with [NCLB's] goals."

Rather than turn the building over to outside administration, Robinson recommended that the district change course at Geyer, converting it from a middle school to a Montessori program serving grades 1 through 8, and turning the current Montessori pre-K-8 program at Bunche Elementary into a Montessori preschool.

Part of Robinson's goal was to show that the school district regarded the neighborhoods surrounding Geyer as important. "We need to maintain a strong, viable school presence in that part of Ft. Wayne ."

And in a city that committed itself 25 years ago to developing strong, successful magnets, the Bunche Montessori magnet has been one of the standouts.

Bunche students consistently scored high on Indiana 's annual standardized tests, and the school earned local and national recognition when it became the first public program to be certified by the American Montessori Society.

A large, active community of private Montessori preschools was another contributor "to the constant demand to infuse more Montessori classrooms into Ft. Wayne ," Robinson said.

A second element in Robinson's plan focuses on the Geyer middle school students who will be transferring to other programs next year. The heart of that effort is to make sure all those students and their families enter into active relationships in their new schools, part of a wider district effort to rejuvenate its secondary schools.

"We've developed strong school improvement plans for each site," Robinson said, "but if you don't have relationships in schools, we won't have an environment where that improvement occurs - relationships between administrators and teachers, between teachers and student and between parents and staff."

Combine that improved environment with accelerated curriculums planned for language, math and science classes, Robinson said, "and that's where the promise comes."

The changes that the district has put in motion are ambitious, "and I think the results will be wonderful," said Connie Murphy, a retired Ft. Wayne educator who was Bunche Montessori's first principal and also served as AMS national president. Robinson asked Murphy to return to help plan the expansion.

The administration has taken a thorough, thoughtful approach to planning these changes, Murphy said, but she acknowledged that they still pose financial and tactical risks. "What's spent on Geyer and Bunche has to be taken away from somewhere else in the district."

The budget that the Ft. Wayne board adopted this summer will pay for a multiyear transition, including funds to adapt both buildings for their new uses, buy Montessori materials and furniture, and provide Montessori training for the much larger teaching staff.

The district hopes to obtain grants to offset some of those costs, but the board committed to pay the new bills from district revenue if grants don't arrive.

The initial capital and training costs will come from district reserves - a price that Robinson and her board believe they can afford, partly because they expect enrollment to stabilize with the stronger program. The new schools' operational costs will be similar to past costs.

Another challenge will be simply hiring almost 20 Montessori-certified teachers over a three-year period. One advantage Ft. Wayne can rely on is its high rate of teacher retention, both at Bunche and district-wide. Another is the district's contract commitment to pay tuition, expenses and a stipend for any teachers hired for the program who still need to obtain Montessori certification.

Much of the credit for that steadfast support for Montessori goes to Robinson, Murphy said. Robinson was the district supervisor who oversaw the Bunche program startup; she watched it grow and succeed. "She understands Montessori, and she believes in the method."

Robinson also believes in early childhood learning, which is another reason she's enthusiastic about Montessori and has helped persuade the district to fund preschools at many of its magnets.

"I'm a preschool zealot," she said, and sharply criticizes the state of Indiana for not joining other states in expanding preschool funding.

"We're not a wealthy district," Robinson said. "But when we look at a district where 70 different languages are spoken, look at a city that's losing jobs, it's critical that we provide a good early foundation for our children in school. We don't see any other way we can survive. We're just putting our money where our mouth is."