BCP Blog
The Value of the Baltimore Curriculum Project Model for Families & Neighborhoods
Baltimore Curriculum Project (BCP) schools are neighborhood conversion charter public schools using the community school model. That’s a lot to say. What does it mean for our students, faculty and staff, and parents – and the Baltimore neighborhoods where our six BCP...
Student Mental Health and Social Media
The facts grow more alarming with each passing year. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services data shows that children and teens who spend more than three hours a day on social media are two times at risk of mental health issues like depression and anxiety....
BCP Leaders on the National Stage
This fall, several Baltimore Curriculum Project (BCP) leaders attended national conferences of top educators across the country or led programs for emerging educational leaders. We asked them to summarize a few takeaways from their experiences. Harold S. Henry, Jr.,...
Reflections of a BCP Principal
I never wanted to be a principal. This is a common refrain from many school leaders, but it could not be more true for me. I resisted at every opportunity leading up to accepting the role at Frederick Elementary School (FES) in 2017, when FES became a Baltimore...
How Restorative Practices Changes School Communities
In 2007, City Springs Elementary / Middle School, a Baltimore Curriculum Project (BCP) public charter school serving children and families from some of the City’s most underserved neighborhoods, pioneered Restorative Practices. Today, BCP’s six neighborhood...
Why School Attendance Matters
We know we can teach every child. However, we cannot teach a child who does not come to school. Yet, nationally and in Maryland, student attendance continues to be a challenge for schools, “a hidden educational crisis,” so dubbed by the U.S. Department of Education....
The Science of Reading & The “Reading Wars”
There’s been a battle for years over how children learn to read and the best way to teach them to read. These “reading wars” have heated up again since the pandemic and the post-pandemic learning loss facing our nation. While Maryland students have made impressive...
Addressing Summer Slide
Use it or lose it. As adults, we understand that if we don’t practice our skills, we can soon forget the knowledge we’ve worked so hard for. Educators face this each year with “summer slide” or “summer slump,” which are the common terms for the student learning loss...
What’s Ahead for BCP From our Board Members
We’re proud of the Baltimore Curriculum Project’s (BCP) deep roots in Baltimore and its public school system. Before we opened our first three neighborhood conversion charter schools in 2005, we had nearly a decade under our belt working with Baltimore City Public...
How to Support Teachers With Instructional Coaching
I’ve spent three decades in the classrooms of Baltimore City Public Schools, first as a teacher at Collington Square Elementary then as the school’s staff developer and later assistant principal. In 2015, I joined Govans Elementary School as assistant principal, the...
Addressing Children’s Mental Health: Wolfe Street Academy’s Collaborative Approach
April is Mental Health Awareness Month and the perfect time for us to examine the important role schools and educators play in our students’ mental health. At the Baltimore Curriculum Project, Maryland’s largest and oldest operator of neighborhood conversion charter...
Helping Students Master Mathematics
I love math and love teaching math. I taught math at an elementary/middle school in Chicago and at the Baraka School in Kenya. What I really love are fractions, especially when cooking and doubling recipes. Fractions are handy, tangible and practical. The recent data...