High Desert Montessori High School
Carol Andrew - Project Director
2590 Orovada Street
Reno, NV 89512
(775) 624-2800
Goals: High Desert Montessori High School (HDMHS) offers a holistic, enriching academic high school environment to every student. The high school Montessori Method is student-centered and largely project-based. It emphasizes learning activities that are long-term, interdisciplinary, and integrated with real world issues and practices. Students develop self-discipline, independence, self-knowledge, academic skills, enthusiasm for learning, and an organized approach to solving problems. The school’s emphasis on hands-on projects, individualized tasks and lessons, and the self-pacing of educational material are particularly well suited to meet the needs of all students whether they are gifted and talented, at risk of not completing high school, or an average teenager. A Response to Intervention team (RTI) addresses the needs of all students, including those with disabilities, in making appropriate academic progress. With RTI, schools identify students with learning disabilities and students at risk for poor learning outcomes, monitor student progress, provide evidence-based interventions, and adjust the intensity and nature of those interventions depending on a student’s responsiveness. Students join one of four thematic “houses” that focus on real world interests: environmental sciences, arts, entrepreneurship, and social justice. HSMHS will be located in a low income community, providing easy access for at risk students.
Expected Outcomes: 80% of HDMHS' 10th grade students will meet or exceed Nevada’s levels of proficiency in the core academic areas of Reading, Writing, and Math as measured on the High School Proficiency Exams.
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