A Christ-centered education in a Family atmosphere offering Quality academics among Highly-involved students
St. Mark Lutheran School, founded in 1984, is a private school where students grades Kindergarten through 8th are taught a Christian based curriculum. Enrollment is limited for an optimum learning experience. Our school values are summarized below; please download our brochure for greater detail. You can learn about our faculty here, and learn about registration and admissions here. Thank you for considering St Mark Lutheran School.
Christ-centered
The school’s dedication to a Christ-centered education is clear from our school’s formal objectives:
- To help each child grow in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior from sin.
- To train our children in their thinking, attitudes, and actions, so that by application of the Word they may willingly, out of love for their Savior, live their lives in conformity to the Word of God.
- To teach God’s Word in its truth and purity, diligently, and systematically,
- To provide a complete elementary education of high quality.
- To teach all subject matter from a Scriptural viewpoint.
- To enable pupils to live in daily Christian fellowship.
- To teach Christian citizenship, grounded in obedience to God’s Work.
- To strengthen the Christian home and congregation and the Church at large.
Family Atmosphere
St Mark utilizes the family-style multi-grade classroom concept, which has proven advantages over conventional single grade classrooms.
The more we learned [about multi-grade classrooms], the more we realized that grouping children like a family is a more logical and humane way to raise children, educationally speaking… And frankly, we are highly impressed with the effect the family-grouped classroom had upon our at-risk learners, our gifted learners…our late bloomers and everyone in between. – Michael Gurian, Boys and Girls Learn Differently! (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishing, 2001) p. 314
Caroline Merseth has two daughters in our school, 3rd and 6th grade. Here’s what Caroline has to say:
We love St Mark because of the great teachers! They are great at working one on one, and I love the small school setting. Everything is taught from the way we believe in the Bible. Our kids always look forward to school!
Quality Academics
We have a full curriculum that includes math, science, social studies, reading, language, spelling, handwriting, and, most importantly, the study of God’s Word. The Word of God classes for Kindergarten through 4th graders are the basic Bible stories. The 5th – 8th grade students have catechism instruction in addition to bible story lessons.
Research evidence indicates that multi-grade instruction has a significant positive impact on student attitudes, and tends to enhance achievement outcomes – US Dept of Education
The Ricci family has had at least one student enrolled in our school for 18 consecutive years. Here’s what they have to say:
St Mark Lutheran School was the best choice for my children because of the strong morals and Christ-centered learning instilled every day. St Mark has really meant a lot to our family because of the small class sizes and teacher to child ratio. We receive weekly reports of their grades and any problem areas can easily be identified. Mr. Bitter has always been so easy to reach and helpful to correct any problems concerning grades. The memorization is not only a tool to tell others about Jesus but also was a helpful tool after completing their education st St Mark. Both of my daughters who are now in college were able to easily transition after their time at St Mark.
Highly Engaged Students
Our limited enrollment allows our teachers and volunteers to spend a great deal of time in small student groups and one-one. This environment keeps the students engaged in their studies, and also promotes a close teacher/parent relationship.
The WELS Lutheran School System
The WELS private school system ( i.e. parochial, or church operated schools ) is the fourth largest private school system in America, operating more than 350 schools nationwide. We have been blessed with experience: WELS congregations have operated elementary schools for over 150 years. In addition, the WELS has developed and maintains a strong support system for WELS schools and teachers. Since our teachers may be called to serve in a wide variety of settings, from large schools in the city to small schools operated by a rural congregation, WELS teachers are graduated uniquely equipped to teach in multigrade classrooms. Upon their children’s graduation, parents might consider Great Plains High School, another fine WELS school.