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About Summit

aerial view from side of Summit Campus

The Summit School is one of the few schools in Maryland exclusively serving bright students with dyslexia and other learning differences in grades 1-8.

Founded in 1989, Summit is nationally recognized for academic excellence, researched-based methodologies, and student success.  Our 15-acre campus, a former horse farm, is located eight miles south of Annapolis and is an idyllic setting for our unique program.

The Summit Difference

When a student comes to Summit, teachers meet them where they are and bring them up to where they need to be. Highly-trained teachers maximize students’ strengths and support areas of weakness. Students are grouped in classes based on skills and receive differentiated, individualized instruction in all subject areas. Literacy is infused throughout the program. Instruction is not only rigorous, it is relevant.

Instructional highlights include:

  • Research-based methodologies
  • Activity-based multisensory learning
  • WordSenseTM
  • Read Naturally® Live
  • EmPOWERTM writing program
  • Social ThinkingTM
  • STEM infused curriculum
  • Standards-based math

When a child struggles in school, often they are impacted socially or emotionally by their academic challenges. Summit addresses the whole child and teaches self-advocacy, confidence, and social-emotional wellness. Parent-school partnerships are key to student success. Communication with parents is frequent and collaborative.

Measurable Outcomes

Continuous progress monitoring supports student growth and success. Summit employs Benchmark Testing three times per year to evaluate students, in math and reading, against specific grade-level standards and learning goals. The results give teachers actionable data and drive instruction for each student. 

Life-changing Impacts

Even though Summit’s program ends at eighth grade, parents and alumni credit The Summit School with giving them the confidence, strategies, and learning tools they needed to succeed. Summit alumni are now engineers, teachers, artists, doctors, psychologists, financial analysts, entrepreneurs and more. With a strong foundation, the possibilities are endless.

Dr. McCarthy's Headshot

Welcome

At Summit, it's not just what we teach, it's how we teach.  I am privileged and proud to be the Executive Director of this life-changing school for students who learn differently.  I know as an educator, a researcher, a mom, and a grandmother, that what happens in a child's early years changes the trajectory of their lives.

Since 1989, Summit has helped our students understand who they are as learners, delivered the type of instruction needed to boost confidence and academic skills, and transformed students into confident, successful adults who contribute to their communities.

I can confidently say that research validates that the innovative methods employed at Summit are THE MOST effective ways to educate students with learning differences.  I often proudly speak of Summit students' outcomes and impacts. There is a difference between outcomes and impact. Outcomes are the numbers of the measurement of progress. You can train on many skills, and have outcomes. But the critical concept is do the outcomes have impact, and we KNOW that what we do here at Summit has profound impact. 

I invite you to learn more about Summit's outcomes and impacts for students with dyslexia and other learning differences.

Yours in the service of children,

Dr. Joan A. Mele-McCarthy, CCC-SLP