MVCKS Overview

Mountain View Core Knowledge School is a public charter school with students ranging from preschool through 8th grade in Canon City, Colorado. Just the 6th charter school in Colorado at its inception, MVCKS is proud to be finishing up its 28th year serving Fremont County as one of our community's preferred schools of choice.

Development of the charter for MVCKS began in the summer of 1995 by an enthusiastic group of founding parents, their appointed Governing Board, and local citizens. This group was aided by valuable input from members of the Fremont RE-1 Administration and Board of Education whose collective goal was to establish a charter school to complement the public school programs already in place in Fremont county.

From Day 1, MVCKS has employed the Core Knowledge Sequence curriculum that offers an annual progression of detailed, sequential curriculum with specified content in language arts, mathematics, science, history, geography, fine arts, and world cultures. Our goal has always been to stimulate wonder and curiosity, to engage the mind, and to promote vision and understanding of the world to all students. In addition to our rigorous curriculum, we focus on teaching core virtues such as integrity, respect, responsibility, compassion, empathy, courage, and teamwork. We try to capture our kids' hearts by taking a consistent, school-wide relationship-building approach to discipline with the ultimate goal of creating self-managing groups within each classroom.

The educational program at MVCKS stands out for the following reasons: the Core Knowledge Sequence curriculum, direct Spanish instruction in all grades, a phonetic-based spelling and reading program, and literature-based character education. Additional highlights include a 5 Qualistar rated pre-school, a full-day kindergarten program, a one-track grade structure, a 30 student classroom cap, a full-time instructional aide in every classroom, a traditional dress code to focus students' attention on education, and an emphasis on parental involvement in all aspects of the school's operation. Our budding House system in the middle school offers a dynamic new experience for our older students, many of whom have been students in our school since preschool or kindergarten. We've recently adopted a blended learning approach by implementing a 1:1 laptop initiative that promises to maintain the integrity of our academic approach while equipping our students with relevant 21st century technology skills that will serve them well both in our school and in the high-tech world beyond our walls.

The success of MVCKS is firmly based on the outstanding commitment of its Governing Board, administrators, staff, and parent volunteers. Our volunteers have been crucial in establishing and maintaining the core values of MVCKS and have devoted countless hours of their time and efforts to our school over the years. We are proud to provide an alternative educational experience in Fremont County with a success record that has earned us national recognition and embrace the challenge of continuing to offer a traditional and classical education that is as relevant today as it was when we started.