Overview
Personalized and Student-Centered Learning
At Meridian Public Charter School, learning is alive and led by students, who ask questions and drive the instructional time. Our teachers don’t just deliver lessons to be memorized—they bring them alive through local field trips, experiments, and real-life applications of lessons. Most tests are project-based and hands-on.
Our curriculum is aligned with EL Education, which brings to life a three-dimensional vision of student achievement that includes mastery of knowledge and skills, character, and high-quality student work. EL Education promotes active classrooms that are alive with discovery, problem-solving, challenge, and collaboration. EL Education drives results: teachers fulfill their highest aspirations and students achieve more than they think possible. EL Education students have both the capacity and the passion to build a better, more just world.
What does ‘inquiry-based’ mean?
This model is a type of instruction that involves posing an engaging question for discussion. This model helps students form their own understanding of the lesson rather than a teacher telling them what to think.
What is ‘student-centered’ instruction?
Students enjoy classroom activities that address their distinct learning needs, interests, aspirations, or cultural backgrounds. These activities empower children to take charge of their learning, show off what they know, and explain the skills being taught in their own words. This model promotes a sense of pride and accomplishment in our students.
Personalization first
Core to our mission is that each student, regardless of his or her academic level, finds joy in learning.
Our model allows students more one-on-one time with instructors than a traditional classroom structure. This additional attention is crucial for younger children in particular because this is when gaps in skills or understanding create problems quickly.
Meridian PCS has multiple teachers or instructional aides in classrooms who teach in smaller groups. This model gives our students more one-on-one attention..
Read on for more on our specific programs for our pre-school, elementary, and middle school students.
Socio-Emotional Learning
Social Emotional Learning (SEL) is the process through which children and adults acquire and apply the knowledge, attitudes and skills necessary to understand and manage their emotions, set and achieve goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions.
Meridian’s implementation of SEL curriculum is embedded in morning meetings, advisory, closing circles and community meetings, and an SEL block in each grade level dedicated to explicitly teaching strong character traits to students.
Meet Meridian Public Charter School’s Executive Director
Prior to joining the Meridian Public Charter School community, Dr. Rikki Hunt Taylor served as the Chief Academic officer at E.L. Haynes Public Charter School for the last five years. Navigating academic shifts required to serve students during the pandemic Dr. Taylor led the school community through a new instructional vision, adopting aligned and rigorous curricula, and designing professional learning strategies for teachers. She previously served as Assistant Superintendent of Schools in Philadelphia, a position she has held since 2018.
Dr. Taylor worked for DC Public Schools for seventeen years, first as a teacher in Southeast DC and later as an Early Childhood Education Manager for a Head Start Program. Other leadership roles include: assistant principal, principal, and central office leader, serving on the DCPS Leadership Development Team as Director for the District’s Aspiring Principal program. Dr. Taylor also worked for the city’s first demonstration Head Start Program for families with housing insecurities.
A native Washingtonian, Dr. Taylor is a graduate of Benjamin Banneker Academic High School. She is the mother of a blended family of three children, all graduates of DC Charter and DC Public high schools. Always knowing that she would spend her career in service to others, Dr. Taylor’s original career choice was to become foreign service officer; however, she realized that she wanted to positively impact her own community after studying in Los Angeles, CA, and seeing the effect of systemic inequities that existed in communities of color. Thriving in a career of teaching while hoping to achieve greater impact, Dr. Taylor shifted her role in education to school leadership and leadership coaching. Her foundational belief is that literacy is liberty and that students who are great readers are students who have an important skill necessary to thrive in life.
Dr. Taylor received a Bachelor’s Degree in International Relations from Trinity College in Washington, DC, a Master’s Degree in Education Administration from Trinity University, and an Executive Master’s Degree from Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business. She holds a Doctoral Degree in Educational Organization and Leadership from the University of Pennsylvania.
Online programs used in the classroom and at home
i-Ready
Used during K–8 "Owl Hour" (intervention/remediation block) for practicing Math and ELA skills, the program provides targeted practice to a student at his or her instructional level. This structure makes it easy for each child to practice the material he or she needs to fill gaps in learning, keep up with the class, and even advance in topic areas of interest.
Learning A-Z
An extensive collection of leveled reading resources. With more than 2,000 books at 29 levels of reading difficulty to choose from, to easily put developmentally appropriate content into each student's hands. This program also includes corresponding resources to enhance instruction and strengthen students' reading skills, such as guided lesson plans, worksheets, assessments, and much more.
NWEA MAP
Used in the Fall, Winter, and Spring to assess student skills in mathematics and reading. Teachers use NWEA MAP to develop instructional plans for classes. Often used in conjunction with companion program MAP Skills, a skills mastery and progress monitoring assessment that helps teachers drill down to the specific skills each student needs to learn. Teachers see exactly what struggling students are missing and advanced students are ready to take on—then adjust instruction in the moment and monitor student progress.
Technology-focused Creative Arts classes also use a variety of online programs like TypingClub and Code Monkey to learn age appropriate keyboarding and coding skills.