This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Gabriela Marte, the parent of a child who attends Coral Cove Academy of the Arts in Broward County, Florida. Coral Cove is a public school that recently converted from a K-5 structure to K-8. It has been edited for length and clarity.
When I enrolled my son at Coral Cove for kindergarten, he was struggling with a learning disability. Now he’s in fourth grade, he’s high achieving, and he’s excelling in reading and math.
I didn’t have many expectations coming into Coral Cove. I received some positive recommendations from neighbors about the school, and I liked that it had a smaller population where I knew my son would get the attention he needed. I quickly saw that my son was thriving. His teachers were giving him guidance to grow in his academics, and the focus on the arts built his confidence.
However, at the time I enrolled my son, Coral Cove was a K-5 elementary school, and I was concerned about putting him in a larger public middle school after fifth grade. I was raised in the Dominican Republic, and my education there consisted of small class sizes and a tight-knit community. I want my son to have the same experience, and I didn’t want to throw him into a big pool of people where he might not get the same support that he had at Coral Cove.
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I became involved in the push to transition Coral Kove to a K-8 academy, and I was so happy when the change was approved earlier this year. It provides our students the opportunity to continue to grow in the same creative environment during sixth through eighth grade, years which I think are crucial to a child’s development.
Of course, it’s an adaptation period, and not everyone was on board with the shift. Some parents wanted to stick with the more traditional public school model, but the response to a K-8 was still overwhelmingly positive. It’s something that the community had been craving; otherwise, there wouldn’t be so many K-8 charter and private schools in the area.
If I didn’t have the option of keeping my son in a K-8, I probably wouldn’t go into public education for a middle school. I would likely look into a charter or a private school to ensure he wouldn’t fall behind in a larger school environment.
Courtesy of Gabriela Marte
The benefits of an arts-focused education
My son didn’t have a lot of exposure to the arts before entering Coral Cove, and it wasn’t a priority for me, either, before we had enrolled. After getting an arts education, my son’s personality has changed; he went from being very shy to having no fear of public speaking or performing in public.
I was shocked at his growth — this isn’t the same child that I had four years ago. He goes to music, art, and dance classes, and it’s a way for him to express himself and build confidence. When he was in second grade, he stood onstage in front of 800 people and introduced the principal, and last year, he performed as Mufasa in The Lion King.
Seeing him speak and sing in front of a huge crowd is incredible. I didn’t know my son could sing; I didn’t know he could play the violin. Coral Cove exposed him to these things, and when I talk to parents from private schools, unless they pay for it, these are not things their children are exposed to.
It’s also helped my son be more well-rounded in academics. When he’s struggling in math class, for example, the math teacher will let the music teacher know, and the music teacher will encourage my son to spend a bit more time on math instead of music. Everybody plays a part, and there are incentives from every angle to help students achieve academically.
While it’s been great for my son, it might not benefit every child; you need to find what works best and where your child can be best supported during their developmental phases.
You expose and you encourage. That’s all you can do as a parent, and if you don’t expose them, you’ll never know whether they’ll be good at something. It puts the child in a much better place.
