Community Montessori Charter School FAQs

Crossway will deploy existing assets to:

• Forge new partnerships and expand current ones to support family-centered learning communities.
• Develop additional operational and administrative systems that allow school leaders to concentrate on their primary purpose–the students–and instructional outcomes.
• Raise capital, complete special projects, and generate operating funds to provide exemplary programming and replicable service models.
• Advocate locally and nationally on behalf of education, prevention, family development, and economic empowerment.
• Provide community outreach that embodies a broader understanding of the direct correlation between investment in families and the elimination of poverty.

Crossway engages thousands of stakeholders annually and has raised over $20 million dollars to support its mission. Crossway will continue to engage in a wide array of partnerships on behalf of CMCS. In turn, CMCS will benefit from the wraparound support supplied by the networks of people, wealth of experience, collection of resources, and connection to services Crossway contributes to the entire community free of charge.

All charter schools are free public schools. Charter schools do not charge tuition or admission fees.

By law, charter schools must have a fair and open admissions process and must conduct outreach and recruitment to all segments of the community they serve. All Montgomery County students are eligible for admission regardless of race, gender, or religious affiliation. Preference is given to siblings of enrolled students, and children of faculty and staff. If oversubscribed, students will be admitted by a lottery system.

Parent involvement is critical for student success in school, and all parents are expected to participate as partners in the child’s education. The school will try to match each family’s strengths, interests, and abilities with the needs of the school. Parental involvement is fostered through comprehensive parent educational programming, volunteer opportunities, and service on the School’s Governance Council.

The Montessori classroom, known as the “prepared environment,” is a highly enriched learning space designed to enable exploration, experimentation and the ongoing refinement of abilities and knowledge. Montessori teachers are responsible for preparing and maintaining the learning environment and for providing lessons to students based on their needs and interests. The prepared environment is also a mini-community. Classes typically include a span of three years in age. The multi-age makeup of the group fosters meaningful social interactions, peer modeling, exposure to advanced lessons, and the opportunity to solidify understanding over time.

Montessori classrooms are often pleasantly surprising to visitors. Students concentrate intently on their work, speak in calm tones, and demonstrate respect for their peers, their work, and their environment. Children move freely about the environment and often assist each other with their tasks. Children may choose their work, when they do it, and often with whom they do it. Teachers, or Guides, assist each child in selecting meaningful work from an array of materials that have been specially designed to meet the child where he or she is developmentally.

All public schools, including charter schools, must administer the Maryland School Assessment (MSA) tests. Our school will be evaluated based on our students’ achievement on these tests which are based on the curriculum frameworks adopted by the Maryland State Board of Education. As a public Montessori school, our responsibility is to remain faithful to Montessori methodology while meeting the requirements placed on all Maryland public schools. Community Montessori Charter School will maintain a highly qualified, Montessori-trained faculty and adhere to the Montessori tradition in its teaching and learning activities while promoting high performance on state-level standardized tests.