Okay, I'm not blood-related to any of the kids who attend the Cogito Program at Mount Pleasant Elementary. But I used to work at the after-school care here, and saw what the kids are like after a hard day of Cogito. Cogito is a special academic program that uses explicit phonetics and repetition strategy to get the material into the kids' heads. They have regular homework everyday, and often the kids would do their homework in the daycare before their parents picked them up. I don't know about you, but I was never that diligent when I was seven years old. While I'll admit the program works, because these are some of the smartest kids I've ever seen, it does take a toll on them. The poor children are probably mentally exhausted, and want nothing more than to unleash all their pent-up energy from the whole day. Unfortunately right after school hours, when they're with the daycare staff! I think it's important to remember that all kids learn differently, so while Cogito may work wonders for some, it may not be the greatest for other kids, especially the ones who need to learn through hands-on activity. On that note, I will add that it's great for getting kids to read early. There's nothing like a five-year-old teaching you the difference between the "a" and "ai" phonemes! read more

Cogito Program Mount Pleasant School - From the Mount Pleasant Elementary school website - Elementary Schools Near Me - Edmonton, Alberta

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It is been our forth year in this school and we are happy with the results. The school environment is amazing. We hardly seen any bully or bad mouthing in the school. Everybody including teachers and students are polite and kind. The homework is not that much. If my daughter focus on it, it takes only 10 to 20 minutes of her time. read more

The negative posters do not actually have kids at Mt Pleasant. I now have, after switching my kids' school. Having experienced many programs (5 kids ranging from elementary to adult), at many different schools, we are blown away by Mt Pleasant. This is education at its pinnacle, with kind, caring teachers who are committed to their students' excellence. They offer a classical liberal arts education, with emphasis on numeracy and literacy, but a good grounding in everything else. I really appreciate the efforts to foster public speaking skills and good character and work habits along with excellent academics. Your kids don't have to be brilliant to get in (mine were pretty average), just at grade level with demonstrated ability to focus and work responsibly. The entrance test is pretty easy. I think after testing for basic skills, the real thing they're looking for is behavioural info to see if the child can focus, or whether he will have a hard time sitting In a desk and will disrupt the rest of the students. The teachers take responsibility for making sure your kids learn and do their work, unlike the prevailing ethos at many schools where parents are considered the main educators. My kids have really responded. For the first time, they don't say "recess" or "lunch" is their favourite subject. Now they are excited about science, or LA or math or geography, and so proud of their accomplishments. I used to be so worried about my kids' education and had to put so much effort into teaching them at home. Thanks to Mt Pleasant, I can totally relax and be certain they will have the skills and habits to thrive at junior high, high school and in post-secondary. EDITED TO ADD: It's 3 years later and my husband and I agree that transferring our kids to this school was one of the best decisions we ever made as parents. My son is now in junior high after 2 years at MP and the transition was amazingly easy. The work habits and discipline he learned at MP made Grade 7 a total breeze. The only issue is that you will find MP kids are at least a year ahead of the regular curriculum in math, so you may need to supplement their math if you want them to stay accelerated. PS. The program isn't for everyone. It works best for kids who are able to sit and focus and who take instruction well. Disruptive classroom behaviour is not tolerated, so if this is a challenge for your kid, I would not recommend this program as you are only setting them up for butting heads with both their teacher and their classmates. On the other hand, contrary to some criticism I have read, this is not at all about making kids into robots. In fact, what I have found is that because all of the kids have a strong foundation of knowledge, this seems to result in a much higher level of discourse, debate and interest from them, in class and out of it. Because of the mock elections and debate in class, my son turned into a complete political junkie for the last provincial and federal election. read more

My son has been in MP from K to 6. It is a great school. English is not my first language, I apologize in advance for grammar mistake in this post. Teachers are nice and the grade 6 teacher is especially very knowledgeable and responsible. Some people argue that learning certain knowledge is not important for young kids, the ability to learn is more important. Sure, I totally agree. For me, the first priority of an elementary school, is cultivate student a learning habit, that he/she should learn by self everyday, same as he/she eats and shower by self everyday. MP did a great job in gradually leading kids to learn everyday by assign some homework. The homework is not heavy, 15-20 min a day, except in grade 6, when a research project comes, 1 hour per day for a week. But the research part is the most fun part. My son enjoys every minute on the research and be creative in his way. I know some students takes 3 hours a day for a homework. That is a warning sign that the kids are struggling. The parents should not complain the homework amount, instead, the parents should observe why take so long and give some support to the kid. My son told me that the slowest kid in his class, is not focusing when doing homework. She played her braid for 1 min, then write a word, threw the pencil to the floor, then play the eraser for another minute, then pickup the pencil write another word, then talk to other kids for a while, or draw a funny cat and laugh to herself for while. The teacher had to watch over she to finish homework during recess hour, but she still could not concentrate. Another sample is that, one parent always sends the kid one hour late for school. Excuse is that the kid had to eat breakfast. The school begins at 8:35 am, not that early that the kid cannot have breakfast. The real reason is that the family watch TV into 1 am everyday. The poor kid is half sleep through the school hours. He got low marks in grade 4. All the parents doing were continue complaining that homework is too heavy. Then next year the kid lost interests in study and give up homework for all. In grade 6, the marks in school report was a disaster. For me, Get low mark is not a big deal, but lost interest in study is big failure of parents. Certainly the kid might still be an achiever when he grow more independent later and realize the horizon will be much wider if he learns harder, and study itself is rewarding. However the topic belongs to another scope, not in this post. read more

Having considered enrolling our child in Cogito, correct me if I am wrong, but these kids only gain entry if they qualify/meet a certain academic standard to begin with. If they cannot keep up, then they are transferred out of the program. It seems glaringly obvious to me that Cogito performance shines because the program only accepts the bright kids. Students that struggle are essentially kicked out. Seems disingenuous to claim to be acheiving academic excellence when you simply remove the low scoring kids out of the program! Shame on you Cogito for not caring enough to support the strugglers, and leaving the burden for the public system. As well, seems like a great emphasis is placed on "parent participation." If that is the case, then why not just home school your kid? read more