Clover Park Middle School

Clover Park Middle School is a bilingual school. The focus is on the culture of the Maori and Pacifica heritage. This school is considered a Docile 1 school. This means the children come from very poor backgrounds. All students are required to wear uniforms, which is true in all schools in New Zealand. The school was built with no walls or doors. (Yes that's right, somebody else thought it was a good idea.) The students are free to roam from class to class and the teacher teaches all subjects, even in what we call high school.  The students learn in both English and their tribal language. The school is run much like what one might imagine an Abenaki school would look like if in our district we were to separate the students and design a school that focused on the needs of the Abenaki student. There are no standardized tests so the curriculum is open for interpretation. Teachers ask students inquiry questions and then shape what they will learn about through the questions. The learning is really centered around the student. As for educational theories the school models constructionism connected to the theorists Jean Piagot and Seymour Papert. Because students learn in an environment that promotes the student and their own culture, students who normally would drop out by freshman year of high school continue on to graduate with a sense of pride about who they are. The feeling I felt while at the schools was a sense of family. The principles and teachers really care about the well being of their students beyond just the everyday happenings of school. A great emphasis is placed on family and the importance of relationships. It was an incredible experience to see students who would normally struggle in a typical educational system, to be succeeding far beyond what the statistics say they should.