Chesapeake Math and IT (CMIT) Academy Middle School is a Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) public charter school in northern Prince George’s County that aims to serve grades 6 through 8 with an academic program focusing on mathematics and information technologies (IT). CMIT Academy is being modeled after Chesapeake Science Point Public Charter School (CSP), our award-winning sister school in Anne Arundel County, Charter School of the Year in 2010.
Currently, CSP is not only one of the most successful public schools in the county, but also one of the most accomplished charter schools in Maryland. In 2009 MSA tests CSP students had 2nd highest passing rate in Math and 5th highest passing rate in Reading in the entire state of Maryland. In fact, CSP has been named as one of the best 30 middle schools in the Northern Virginia, D.C., and Maryland areas by Jay Matthews of The Washington Post. Recently CSP became No. 1 at the American Math Challenge among 1,329 competing middle schools across the nation. With free weekend tutoring sessions, after-school activities, science fairs and numerous student clubs, parent and student satisfaction is at the highest level at CSP.
The fundamental driving force behind CSP’s success is the belief that each child has an inherent curiosity and love of learning and that each child has a unique intelligence, level of capability, and learning style. With this in mind, we place great emphasis on fully motivating our students and we guide them to efficiently realize their fullest potential.
The fundamental goal of CMIT Academy Public Charter School is to replicate the CSP success story in Prince George’s while adapting the CSP’s educational philosophy and approach to better fit the needs of the Prince George’s County Public Schools (PGCPS) and putting more emphasis on mathematics and information technologies. The latter is to reflect the increasing role of computers and technology in today’s world and, more importantly, to provide a unique opportunity for Prince George’s County youth to pursue professional careers as well as college education in the high paying and ever growing field of information technologies. By replicating CSP’s highly successful model, we will be implementing CSP’s proven and well established educational methods at CMIT Academy, thereby largely eliminating the need for a trial and error period in establishing high standards at our school.