Pre-K–12 / College Prep
Montclair, New Jersey
AT MKA, WE BELIEVE in forging understanding from curiosity, fusing
character into community and instilling balance and joy in students.
WE BELIEVE that a great school can transform young lives and help them realize their own infinite potential.
MKA IS
A SCHOOL OF THOUGHT TURNING INQUIRY INTO INSIGHT
INTENTIONAL BALANCE FOR INFINITE GROWTH 1,000 ADVENTURES, NO TWO THE SAME
FACULTY WHO LOVE TO LEARN AND LIVE TO TEACH
AN OPEN COMMUNITY WITH CHARACTER AT ITS CORE
A SCHOOL OF THOUGHT TURNING INQUIRY INTO INSIGHT MKA’s three campuses are all at the intersection of curiosity and engagement. From Pre-K to senior year, classrooms are filled with intellectual energy. Here questions are encouraged and excitement is the norm. Our students are challenged to think, supported to think and eager to think—resulting in a deep and enjoyable education that lasts. We embrace technology and innovation not for their own sake, but to integrate them for the sake of more meaningful learning. Our goal is to establish a strong liberal arts foundation and the enthusiasm to build on it. Remarkable teachers challenge and inspire, nudging when necessary, and our students become self-motivated and responsible for their learning. By acquiring a wealth of skills—from writing to research, creativity to critical thinking and especially collaboration— MKA graduates are well prepared for exceptional colleges and careers. By being inquisitive as well as smart, and insightful as well as knowledgeable, they become curious, engaged citizens of the world.
A SCHOOL OF THOUGHT TURNING INQUIRY INTO INSIGHT
MKA IN ACTION ON STAGE AND SCREENS Every year, third graders take a play-writing workshop, write a script and perform it. Acting is nothing new for them. They’ve been in plays since kindergarten.
Every spring, twelfth graders end their MKA careers with May Term—an academic, creative, internship, travel or service experience. One group of seniors, dubbed Startup 101, developed a college tour app, a business plan and a pitch to potential investors.
These two very different ventures are emblematic of a curricular continuum designed to make learning experiential and studentled when possible. Students work hard and work together. They question, float possibilities and refine. They become poised and confident. And, whether 8 or 18, they stretch their minds and have fun doing it.
A SCHOOL OF THOUGHT TURNING INQUIRY INTO INSIGHT
FACULTY VOICE
We want to give students some structure, tap into their energy and creativity and let them lead the way. When they find something that engages them, they’re all in.
8:1 STUDENT-FACULTY RATIO 1:1 STUDENT-TECHNOLOGY RATIO
A SCHOOL OF THOUGHT TURNING INQUIRY INTO INSIGHT
“THE BUILDING OF BIG IDEAS IS THE FOUNDATION OF THE WHOLE EDUCATION AT MKA. OUR PROGRAM DEVELOPS STUDENTS’ INTELLECTUAL SKILLS— DEVELOPS THEM AS THINKERS. IT IS EXTRAORDINARILY DEEP AND CHALLENGING PREPARATION FOR COLLEGE.” FACULTY VOICE
INTENTIONAL BALANCE FOR INFINITE GROWTH Research confirms what MKA has known and put into practice for years—that students perform better and achieve more when they have balance and joy in their lives. We help them find both. Our students are engaged in their education because it is developmentally appropriate and often student-driven. We stress constructive challenge rather than breeding destructive stress, giving a gentle push or a helping hand as needed. Blurring the line between learning in and out of class, we develop our students socially, emotionally and ethically as well as intellectually. A supportive, go-for-it attitude pervades. Here it’s safe to fail, and students are willing—no, eager—to try anything, knowing that if at first they don’t succeed, there will be a cheering section of faculty and peers urging them to try again. As a result, they confidently seize opportunities en route to realizing their unlimited potential. They become accomplished, successful, well-rounded adults because they are happy, healthy and well-balanced students.
INTENTIONAL BALANCE FOR INFINITE GROWTH
MKA IN ACTION PURPOSEFULLY, PERFECTLY MIDDLE SCHOOL Spanning grades four to eight, the MKA Middle School provides an age-appropriate transition that mirrors and fosters its students’ phenomenal transformation.
The schedule is designed with their needs and growth in mind, including two recesses and an advisory group meeting (starting in sixth grade) each day. Walk the halls and you may encounter fourth graders toting bins—they’re in charge of recycling—or high-fiving eighth-grade buddies.
Peek in a class and you may see seventh graders rehearsing the annual Shakespeare play in which all take part—perhaps Macbeth with 14 witches. On their own self-contained campus and with the sole focus of their faculty, middle schoolers aren’t in the middle here. They’re in a class by themselves.
INTENTIONAL BALANCE FOR INFINITE GROWTH
“IF YOU LOOK AT ALL OF THE EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH THAT’S OUT THERE RIGHT NOW, IT WOULD SUGGEST THAT STUDENTS WILL PERFORM BETTER AND BE MORE SUCCESSFUL IN TERMS OF THEIR ACHIEVEMENTS IF THEY HAVE THAT KIND OF BALANCE—THAT BALANCE FEEDS LEARNING.” FACULTY VOICE
INTENTIONAL BALANCE FOR INFINITE GROWTH
PARENT VOICE
There’s this happiness factor at MKA, and it’s very important. Children have to be happy to learn.
IN THE YOUNGER GRADES, DEVELOPMENTAL APPROPRIATENESS IS MAINTAINED THROUGH REGGIO EMILIA–INSPIRED AND RESPONSIVE CLASSROOM CURRICULA.
1,000 ADVENTURES, NO TWO THE SAME MKA offers big opportunities to our more than 1,000 students. We have activities to suit just about every interest, including the unexpected—and if we don’t, we support students in creating their own. We encourage them to be explorers and adventurers in all spheres of life, including their own self-discovery. At MKA, each of our 1,000+ individuals is not just known, but understood. Thanks to an average class size of 14 and a flexible, never-rest-on-our-laurels approach, our teachers uncover each child’s needs, gifts and interests, providing more challenge or support as necessary. It allows students, in their own way, to experience—and get the most out of—our exceptional education.
ADVENTURES ADVANCED ACADEMICS
16 43 100
AP COURSES HONORS COURSES
SERVICE LEARNING Grade-level projects in Primary and Middle Schools
20+
Upper School service projects and student-led service initiatives
$5k
OTHER UPPER SCHOOL OPTIONS
2X / WEEK MIDDLE SCHOOL FLEX PERIODS
enabling students to shape their own learning
GRADE
3 SOCIAL CHANGE AGENTS
part of innovative social studies curriculum
raised for cancer research from Middle School–sponsored 5K
COLLEGE ADMISSIONS
> 2/3
of students admitted to “most competitive” colleges
Each year, graduates attend approximately 70 different colleges, including major universities, liberal arts colleges & arts schools
THE ARTS
UNACCOMPANIED MINORS
MKA’s student-created a cappella group
20+ 8
YEARS THE ALL-SCHOOL STRINGS PROGRAM HAS PLAYED CARNEGIE HALL
MUSIC ENSEMBLES
ATHLETICS
25 60
INTERSCHOLASTIC SPORTS
MIDDLE AND UPPER SCHOOL TEAMS
110+
CHAMPIONSHIPS IN LAST DECADE
OTHER EXPERIENCES OVER
25%
K–3
of Upper School students travel through global experiences annually
EVERY YEAR, EVERY STUDENT
COUNTLESS LEADERSHIP OPPORTUNITIES,
PLAYS
&
DANCE, THEATER ARTS, MUSICAL THEATER AND STUDIO ART
INTERESTED IN SOMETHING WE DON’T HAVE? If clubs or other activities don’t currently exist, MKA empowers interested students to initiate them.
from house captains to Brookside interns, peer leaders to Honor Council
These are just a few of the hundreds of opportunities used to create those 1,000 adventures.
NO TWO ARE THE SAME BECAUSE NO TWO MKA STUDENTS ARE THE SAME.
1,000 ADVENTURES, NO TWO THE SAME
MKA IN ACTION ONE SPACE, DIVERSE PURPOSES Opened in 2016, the Academic Center is much more than a library. Home to classrooms and common areas, an amphitheater and a learning lab, it has spaces to work independently and to gather together, to research, study, innovate and inquire.
Designed to be flexible, the center meets the community’s changing needs. Its green roof is both sustainable and educational, supporting energy efficiency and science exploration. The center blends the old (school archives) with the new (a technology center) while welcoming the old and the young. Though located at the Upper School, it is used by—and belongs to—the Primary and Middle Schools, too.
As MKA’s dynamic hub of learning, the Academic Center has become the heart of the school. It is many things to all students, who make it their own.
1,000 ADVENTURES, NO TWO THE SAME
FACULTY VOICE
Every moment that students spend outside the classroom is just as important as the moments they spend inside the classroom.
1,000 ADVENTURES, NO TWO THE SAME
“PEOPLE HERE ARE ALWAYS DRIVING YOU TO DO NEW THINGS. IT’S LIKE A SELFRUNNING SYSTEM WHERE EVERYBODY IS ENCOURAGING EVERYBODY TO DO WHATEVER THEY WANT TO PURSUE.” STUDENT VOICE
FACULTY WHO LOVE TO LEARN AND LIVE TO TEACH It is said you learn better by teaching, but MKA proves that you teach better by continuing to learn. Taking advantage of the school’s intense commitment to professional development, faculty members integrate the latest educational research and technology into their classrooms, merging fresh ideas with years of experience, advanced education and an understanding of each student for the benefit of all. No wonder that educators from other schools come to see what ours are doing. You’ll find plenty of teaching on the other side of the classroom threshold, too. Our faculty are ready with opendoor help as well as a mentor’s ear. Our youngest students admire and love their teachers. Our upper schoolers talk to them as mature young adults, thanks in no small part to their example. With a calling to teach and a commitment to young people, MKA faculty are equal parts instructor and student, advisor, scholar, role model and inspiration.
FACULTY WHO LOVE TO LEARN AND LIVE TO TEACH
MKA IN ACTION PLANTING SEEDS One summer a wonderful idea sprouted during the Ethics Institute, part of MKA’s home-grown professional development. Two teachers were inspired to develop a curriculum to unite their classes—Pre-K and third grade—around the topic of food.
Students discuss where food comes from, learn about food needs and plant garlic. They pick produce at a local farm and bring it to a food pantry. Using an iPad app, the “big kids” make a mini-presentation to those half their ages. The program is extraordinary but not unusual.
Like much of MKA’s educational process, it has grown organically, nourished by professional development and tended by collaborative faculty. And it bears amazing fruit: a deeper understanding of science, sustainability and service by letting children explore, teach and grow together.
AS IN THE PRIMARY SCHOOL, FIFTH GRADERS TEND SUSTAINABLE GARDEN BOXES. THEY HARVEST (AND LEARN ABOUT) FRESH FRUITS, VEGETABLES AND HERBS FOR THEIR OWN CONSUMPTION AND FOR THE CAFETERIA, WHERE THE ENTIRE MIDDLE SCHOOL COMMUNITY ENJOYS THE BOUNTY.
FACULTY WHO LOVE TO LEARN AND LIVE TO TEACH
FACULTY VOICE
When you walk through those doors in the morning, you know that today is another opportunity to affect someone. It’s very powerful.
FACULTY WHO LOVE TO LEARN AND LIVE TO TEACH
“THE FACULTY LOVE WHAT THEY DO. THEY’RE REAL PROFESSIONALS. THEY’RE TRULY INTERESTED IN THE WELL-BEING OF THE STUDENTS AND IN BRINGING THE BEST OUT OF THEM. THAT’S THE SECRET HERE.” PARENT VOICE
AN OPEN COMMUNITY WITH CHARACTER AT ITS CORE Words like “warm” and “welcoming,” though accurate, don’t do the MKA community justice. Here, community is more quickly felt than understood—in the intimacy of the Primary School and the mature inclusiveness of the Upper School, where “feels like home” gives way to a house system that cultivates camaraderie amid friendly competition. At MKA, we delight equally in close ties and open minds, in our unity and our differences. Our diversity spans interests and ideas as well as race and religion, reflecting Montclair and the 80+ other communities served. Regardless of background, students find others like them and discover what we know—that no one is quite like them. They feel free to express who they are among those who appreciate them for it. Our community is built around character because character education isn’t just a curriculum. It’s a way of school life. Beyond simply respecting one another, our self-assured students encourage, celebrate and share in each other’s successes, ensuring the success of the community as a whole.
STUDENT VOICE
I got a sweater yesterday. It’s such a solidarity thing—people were congratulating me all day.
MKA SWEATERS ARE AWARDED TO STUDENTS FOR THEIR ACADEMIC, ARTISTIC OR ATHLETIC ACHIEVEMENTS.
AN OPEN COMMUNITY WITH CHARACTER AT ITS CORE
MKA IN ACTION THREE CAMPUSES, ONE SCHOOL Each fall the entire school officially and literally rings in the year in an event known as the Gathering. All 1,000 students, 200 faculty and staff and other community members come together to celebrate all that is—and all who are—MKA.
We share our athletic achievements by hanging new championship banners. We savor our rich performing arts from the Primary School Bellringers to the Middle and Upper School Jazz Band. We marvel as poised student leaders give eloquent speeches. We applaud those who receive MKA sweaters and applaud louder as kindergarteners receive toy cougars from seniors. Then as the headmaster and the youngest child together ring our antique bell, the Gathering concludes and another exciting year begins.
I’D LIKE TO THANK THE ACADEMY
“MKA pushed me beyond any boundaries I ever thought possible. It was the key that UNLOCKED
COUNTLESS DOORS for my personal, educational and professional advancement.”
Strategy and design: Turnaround Marketing Communications
“My son’s development has been fabulous.
HE’S A GENTLEMAN. He’s learned ethics, the right way and that everybody is on the same plane. I’m very, very, very pleased
EACH YEAR THE UPPER SCHOOL’S FOUR ALL-GRADE HOUSES—BRADLEY, MONJO, STRONG AND WALDEN—ENGAGE IN FRIENDLY COMPETITION RANGING FROM FLAG FOOTBALL TO A BATTLE OF THE BANDS, ALL IN QUEST OF THE COVETED HOUSE CUP.
with the school.”
“MY DAUGHTER IS SO HAPPY IN SCHOOL. She’s learning a lot and she’s interested in learning. SHE’S ASKING
QUESTIONS. That’s what I wanted and that’s what I found.”
“MKA gave me academic attention, STRONG SOCIAL BONDS AND INTEGRITY.”
“While for most students, the transition to college is stressful and difficult, MKA
MORE THAN PREPARED ME TO ACADEMICALLY SUCCEED there.”
“Because of the excellent education I was fortunate enough to obtain at MKA, I have found success in my job. MY TEACHERS INSTILLED IN ME THE
NECESSARY DILIGENCE, PERSEVERANCE and mathematical foundation.”
“MKA has given both of
“It’s just a different
my kids, who are very
philosophy about
different, SPACE TO
LEARNING TO LEARN
REALLY EXPLORE,
here as opposed to
to breathe and to grow.”
learning the content.”
Like an MKA education, the school search is an adventure—an exciting, personal journey of discovery that leads to the right destination for each student.
To discover more about MKA, we invite you to:
Check us out at mka.org.
Call or email our Office of Admissions.
Come for an open house, information session or neighborhood reception.
Visit our campus, take a tour, talk to our amazing students and faculty and see for yourself if our exceptional educational adventure is right for you.
WE LOOK FORWARD TO WELCOMING YOU TO MKA.
201 Valley Road Montclair, NJ 07042 973.509.7930 admissions@mka.org
www.mka.org