Our Academics
By frequently assessing our students, we focus on meeting their needs to ensure they are growing every day, gaining the skills they need to be true citizens of the world.
Academic Data
According to 2022 MAP Results:
Citizens students grew in ELA more than 90% of Missouri Districts!
Using assessment data and supports such as reading intervention classes, Lead to Read mentors, and the Hoot program, we meet our students where they’re at to help them grow!
Citizens students grew in math more than 80% of Missouri Districts!
Regardless of their math knowledge when they come to us at Citizens, we help our students grow!
Citizens students have the 3rd highest ELA scores in Kansas City!
Using reading assessment tools such as NWEA and F&P, we collect student data so we can help push our Citizens to the next level!
Citizens students have the 8th highest growth scores in Missouri!
Growth scores of 50 indicate one year of expected growth, but our students averaged a growth score of 54.6! Our students average more than one year of growth and placed us 8th out of 555 school districts/charters in the state of Missouri!
English-Language Arts
In accordance with the newest research, our kindergarten through third grade classrooms use the Fundations curriculum, which is grounded in the science of reading. Using a multisensory approach, our students experience phonics, spelling, and handwriting in fun and playful ways.
All of our classrooms, kindergarten through 8th grade, strengthen their language arts skills by diving into rich, high-interest science and liberal arts texts through the Wit & Wisdom curriculum. Through the use of strategies such as Socratic seminars, students practice examining and discussing these readings and related high-level questions.
Math
Our math curriculum for kindergarten through fourth grade, EveryDay Math, focuses on supporting students in their ability to conceptually understand topics such as basic arithmetic, fractions, probability, and other necessary skills. Students explore these concepts through math games, open-ended problem-solving, and building their strategic thinking.
During fifth grade, our students experience units created by their math teacher to both solidify skills from earlier elementary years and introduce fifth grade concepts in preparation for middle school. These units include elements from a variety of curriculum to meet student needs.
Our middle school math classes benefit from the expertise of a math specialist through the Elevate K-12 program, a virtual program used by schools nationwide and supported by a school staff member as a classroom coach.
Science & Social Studies
Project-based learning (PBL) is an instructional approach designed to give students the opportunity to develop knowledge and skills through engaging projects set around challenges and problems they may face in the real world.
Our kindergarten and first grade classrooms use teacher-created units to cover state standards, such as the human body, cultural traditions, and community.
Second through eighth grade classes develop an even more well-rounded understanding of the world by diving into larger projects that incorporate more learning standards from all content areas. Some examples of PBLs explored by classes have been running a class election, creating a classroom marketplace, designing protective vehicles to compete in the Egg Drop Challenge, and organizing a community fall festival.
Social-Emotional Learning
Conscious Discipline is an evidence-based, trauma-informed approach to behavior management in the classroom. Using an understanding of brain science, our elementary classes utilize Conscious Discipline strategies, such as the Brain Smart Start, Wish Wells, and other techniques for helping both adults and students learn how to regulate emotions, resolve conflicts, and create an empathetic and emotionally safe school environment where all students can learn.
Just as our elementary classes use Conscious Discipline strategies, our middle schoolers participate in their social-emotional learning curriculum called Roots. Through discussion and reflection, middle schoolers learn self-awareness and other tools that are necessary to help them during this phase of their lives.