Letter to the Editor: Shoreline's '3rd' Middle School

To the Editor:

I'd like to raise awareness in the community about Shoreline's "3rd" Middle School - Room Nine K-8's "Journey." In 2010, President Barack Obama announced a new goal of recruiting 10,000 Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) teachers over the next two years. Since then, two teachers at Room Nine Community School (Rebecca Drury and Michael Callahan) became certified to implement the STEM curriculum at Room Nine.

The result is a "joining together" of two educational trends that the experts are advocating: K-8 education and bringing our kids into the 21st century with strong exposure to technology and engineering. Both a 2010 Columbia Graduate School research article and a recent Harvard University study found that high school achievement is higher in kids that attend K-8 schools and was more effective than stand alone middle schools in preparing kids for high school.

Now, the experts in education policy circles are making a case for adding the Arts to STEM to create STEAM. This is exactly what Room Nine has already done. The Journey school's curriculum includes an emphasis on the written and visual arts as well as social studies, foreign language and environmental awareness. Here is a small sample of what and who our Journey class has experienced so far this year: creating GameMaker video games, working with Boeing Flight School engineers, creating C02 cars using their new woodworking machinery equipment, taking a field trip to 826 Seattle to write about Space Travel, and using Google SketchUp to design buildings.

Room Nine K-8 Community School sounds like a private school, but in fact is a "Choice" school in the Shoreline School District. With a committed staff and involved and positive parent community, we are creating a warm, supportive and academic environment in which our kids are thriving. We are truly, "The Little School That Could"

Malya Muth

Room 9 Parent