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Garden Oaks Elementary

About the Program

Garden Oaks Elementary is home to a public Montessori program for children ages 3-11. The Garden Oaks Elementary School Campus Montessori classes integrate needed academic, social and emotional skills. This program is funded by the Houston Independent School District and paid for by parents who pay tuition for 3 and 4 year old students. Limited numbers of spaces are available for students unable to pay tuition. Additional funding support is raised by Friends of Montessori (FOM), a volunteer parent, teacher and community organization.

This program is designed to give children of all learning and language abilities the opportunity to be educated and socialized in an environment with a methodology and philosophy that reflects the world these children will soon lead. Because we are a public school, the program is available to all ethnic and socioeconomic levels. It provides each child with a developmentally appropriate, multicultural, family-centered education.

Financial support from community partners such as Shell Oil, Houston Endowment, and Memorial Hermann Northwest Hospital was instrumental in creating the Montessori program. Since the first class opened in 1994, the program has doubled in size. As a result of growth over its 15-year history, the Montessori program has a waiting list of more than 25 students each year. Currently, the program first accepts students from the Garden Oaks neighborhood; however, other students zoned to HISD are also encouraged to apply on a space-available transfer basis. At this time approximately 35% of students are non-zoned transfer students.

Going forward, the Montessori program at Garden Oaks will continue to improve and expand to give children of all learning and language abilities the opportunity to experience a methodology and philosophy that reflects the world they will soon lead.

History of the Program

The seeds of our Montessori program were first planted in 1993 by a small group of parents and community members interested in changing educational opportunities within the public school system, specifically at Garden Oaks Elementary School. Understanding that the future of the neighborhood, and the inner city as a whole, was tied to quality public schools, they worked within the framework of the Shared Decision Making Committee (a campus-level planning and decision-making process involving professional and non-professional staff members, parents, community members, and business representatives in public education) on the Garden Oaks Campus.

Ultimately, this group organized and funded a Montessori "school within a school" program that now boasts eight classrooms and over 170 neighborhood students, ages 3-11. Since 2006 the program has opened two new Children’s House classrooms, 1 new Lower Elementary classroom, and anticipates opening another Upper Elementary classroom in 2011.