Another Successful Year

Our second year here at the Aristotle Campus is ending, and along with it, a chance to look back upon a year of solid academic achievement for our students.  The Liberty Common Board of Directors and administration could not be happier with the accomplishments of the students, instructors, support staff, and parents.  I am proud do say it was a successful year.

 

Liberty Common School has become a premier school in Northern Colorado due to the collaboration of parents, professional staff, and hardworking students.  We are thankful to all who helped make this year so successful.  Many thanks to the families who chose LCS for its academic rigor and culture.  The front-office and custodial staff worked long hours this summer to fill seats and make sure the building was ready for students.  With a student population this year of 325, the Aristotle campus will grow to 425 next year as we gain another kindergarten class as well as two sixth-grade classrooms. 

 

Liberty Common School is a model of how a school should operate.  We provide the freedom to choose the education that meets each family’s needs.  The community showed interest in the school and we delivered one of the finest schools in Colorado.

 

We should be very proud of these students as they have accomplished much this year.  We have seen incredible academic growth.  The key to success?  Focus on academic rigor using the Core Knowledge content.  Bravo to all the hard work of our families, staff, and students.  If you focus on academic achievement, you will see results in academic achievement, and we did. 

 

Classroom teachers persevered as well.  They worked hard to learn and teach the Core Knowledge curriculum.  As always, teachers are knowledgeable about all the content they teach. The classrooms and hallways speak to the nature of this rich content.  Mos Maiorum teachers coordinate with homeroom teachers and act as cross-curricular hubs helping students make connections.  When students study the Medieval age in fourth grade, they learn architecture of cathedrals in art and Gregorian chants in music.  All content is curated, organized, and coordinated.  Liberty hosted many visitors this year from schools curious about our success in this schoolwide collaboration. 

 

Teachers embraced the use of data to assess student progress and plan month-to-month to allow cohesiveness between our schools.  Grade-level teams from both campuses met monthly to plan the next month’s lessons.  We knew during this expansion it would be imperative to keep everyone on the same page.  We are one school with two campuses.  Teachers discussed student progress and gave feedback to each other to ensure students were provided with the best instruction to meet their needs. 

 

This process of entering and analyzing data, discussing students, and providing interventions to help struggling students has been adapted, refined, and polished over the years.  Our Academic-Support Team and classroom teachers worked countless hours to make sure all students had access to the incredible Core Knowledge curriculum. Our goal is to close achievement gaps and help all students access the challenging curriculum we teach.

Liberty's mission is to provide a contextual body of knowledge which will, in turn, provide students with a broad domain vocabulary.  This strong vocabulary, along with strong phonetic instruction, allows our students to both decode and comprehend what they read.  Literate students make quality citizens.  Quality citizens make for a more democratic society.  Liberty Common Elementary continues to stay on track with our mission.