Janis FontaineThe private school in West Palm Beach continuously measures reading progress.
Fourth of five
“Reading is not rocket science, but one size does not fit all either. The truth is, we can solve this. The answer is parents, communities and schools working together.” — Bob Hamon, The Foundations School
More than 20 years ago, the Center for Creative Education was launched as a program to strengthen the presence of the arts in the classrooms of Palm Beach County schools.
Literacy wasn’t the focus until Bob Hamon came on board.
Hamon, CCE’s chief executive officer, joined in 2011. A research chemist with a medical background, Hamon looked at problems differently than most academics. His analogies were often hospital-related, like “You don’t fire a nurse because a patient dies.”
In 2021, the CCE launched the Foundations School, a K-5 school to serve as a model for public schools. It opened in January 2021, in the middle of COVID, as an in-person independent private school in West Palm Beach.
The school set a goal to help impoverished students reach grade-level proficiency in reading, social studies, science and math.
The race starts in kindergarten
Leadership immediately learned two things. First, many children entered kindergarten without basic knowledge of the alphabet or phonics. “Only 40 percent of kids are entering kindergarten ready to learn to read,” Hamon said. “We need to recruit them in kindergarten and get them up to speed.”
Second, Hamon said, the key to success is “to intervene early and consistently, using frequent assessments to provide each student with differentiated support.” The Foundations School assesses student progress at least five times a year.
“The goal is to intentionally seek out the underserved and to figure out how to catch them up,” Hamon said.
It’s also more cost-effective to intervene early: “It’s four times more expensive to remediate a student than to keep one on track.”
The K-5 school’s razor-focus on improving literacy has been effective. At the end of last year, 89% of third graders at The Foundations School were reading on or above grade level, which is nearly double the public schools’ percentage.
The school promotes commitment by hiring its teachers for a 12-month contract and paying them better than public schools.
- Classrooms are capped at 15 students with two or three teachers in each class.
- Students must master one skill before moving on to the next.
Breaking it down
Kids learn to read using a method called the Orton-Gillingham Approach, which has had success with dyslexic students because it breaks reading down into digestible components, relying on phonics-based instruction. It also teaches kids in small groups or even one on one, which makes a difference for lagging readers.
The school offers extended hours from 7 am to 6 pm to support working parents. Uniforms are provided.
But it’s no cakewalk. The Foundations School demands a commitment from parents and Hamon has had many hard conversations. If the parent is not working as a partner with the school, there’s another parent who is willing to do whatever it takes, Hamon said.
“We need families that care, who are willing to commit to more academic days, not less. Parents are the most important factor,” he said.
Most of the annual tuition — about $16,000 — and the school’s annual operating costs are paid for by scholarships, state and local governments, donors and philanthropic organizations, such as the William H. Pitt Foundation, which donated $1 million to CCE in 2023.
Foundation CEO Pauline Pitt said, “We saw an opportunity to help change our county’s reading statistics by supporting CCE’s unique approach and arts-based curriculum to combat the education crisis. We love what they are doing, and their results are undeniable.”
The CCE is raising money to improve its new campus at 2400 Metrocentre Blvd. in West Palm Beach.
The goal is to raise $20 million to build the Susan and Dom Telesco Arts and Science Center, a 22,000-square-foot facility with a theater, an art gallery, STEM labs and art studios. The school also has scholarship, operational and capital needs, with plans to acquire a school bus.
But Hamon says the answer is not starting new schools but fixing public education.
“We are willing to share everything that we have and everything that we’ve learned with any organization interested in creating a better future for students who are struggling in today’s public-school model,” Hamon told David Bass of the Philanthropy Roundtable.
“Our goal is to influence public education,” Hamon said. “We want to help Palm Beach County schools and we’re not going to leave one kid behind.”
