BCP Blog
The Benefit and Impact of Charter Schools
The history of charter schools in Baltimore City is part of a broader narrative about school choice and equitable access to education. In the early 2000s, Baltimore City Public Schools (City Schools) implemented a high school choice program, allowing incoming ninth...
Empowering Middle School Leaders for Real-time Impact and Long-term Change
Twelve years ago, a group of us at Hampstead Hill Academy, a Baltimore Curriculum Project (BCP) neighborhood conversion public charter school in South Baltimore, launched Leaders Go Places (LGP) with our middle school. The initial idea and early funding for the...
The Healing Impact of Peaceful Parenting
This fall, Andria Cole, founder of The Restorative Project and a nationally noted educator and Restorative Practices facilitator, launched a series of Peaceful Parenting Workshop and weekly Circles at Pimlico Elementary / Middle School for its parent community. She...
Learning to Lead: Engaging Middle Schoolers in Civic Responsibility
Teaching civic engagement and civic responsibility to middle schoolers is always interesting. This particular presidential election and moment in our country’s polarized political climate makes it especially interesting. Civics instruction is important from a...
The Economics and Educational Necessity of School Attendance
As the new school year begins, let’s take a pause to talk about the importance of enrollment and attendance. Baltimore Curriculum Project (BCP) believes in sharing information about our schools’ operations to further strengthen relationships with our families and the...
BCP’s History with Direct Instruction and NIFDI
When I was a graduate student in Special Education and Rehabilitation at the University of Oregon, the direction of my life changed when I met Jerry Silbert, one of the leaders and program authors of the four-decade Direct Instruction (DI) movement with the National...
Deepening the Impact of Community Schools
There are 454 community schools in Maryland, located in every county with the highest concentration in Baltimore City. These community schools offer far more than a solid public school education. By their mission, these schools focus on the well-being of their...
Improving Math Proficiency and Success at Baltimore Curriculum Project Schools
Everybody can be good at math. I’m a former middle school math teacher and know that many people feel like they're not good at math. But if it’s taught well, everybody can be good at math. As a partner with Baltimore City Public Schools and as Maryland’s largest and...
Making Children’s Mental Health a Classroom Priority: A BCP Teacher’s Story
May is Children’s Mental Health Month. We asked Kat Locke-Jones,7th grade English Language Arts teacher at Hampstead Hill Academy, part of the Baltimore Curriculum Project’s (BCP) network of neighborhood conversion charter schools, to share her story as a mental...
How Assistant Principals Support and Sustain School Culture and Achievement
In early April, we celebrated National Assistant Principal Week. The Assistant Principals across our Baltimore Curriculum Project (BCP) network of neighborhood conversion charter schools are unsung heroes. Every day, these talented, seasoned school administrators play...
Muriel Berkeley, BCP Founder and Heroine
To celebrate Women’s History Month this March, we are going back to the beginning, to the visionary woman who co-founded the Baltimore Curriculum Project (BCP) in 1996: Dr. Muriel Berkeley. Today BCP is Maryland’s largest charter school operator and is recognized for...
Bernarda Kwaw, BCP Leader of Distinction
Bernarda Kwaw holds a unique record at Baltimore Curriculum Project (BCP). She has held every role, except student, within BCP. Over her 30 year career, she’s been a BCP classroom teacher, academic coach, parent of Hampstead Hill Academy student, BCP Board member,...
