While some children spend summer wishing it would last forever, Adoriona Jackson has been asking her mother a different question: When can I go back to school?
“Since school has been out, she’s been asking, ‘When do I go back to school?’” said her mother, Ashley Jackson. “She asks every day. She is so ready. She loves school.”
Adoriona, a returning second grader who has attended Momentum Academy since pre-K, got a preview at the charter school network’s recent back-to-school block party in St. Louis’ Fox Park neighborhood.
Families gathered for games, face painting and other activities while children received backpacks and school supplies and reunited with teachers and classmates.
Momentum operates three St. Louis campuses serving students from pre-K through eighth grade. As students return, the network is looking to build on recent academic growth.
The Missouri Charter Public School Commission’s most recent annual review found Momentum students exceeded expectations for academic growth in both English language arts and mathematics during the 2024-25 school year.
Ke-La Harris, assistant principal at Momentum’s Fox Park campus, said the gains extend beyond test results.
“These gains represent real growth from our students, but not just academically, but also within their confidence as learners,” Harris said.
Jackson has seen that progress firsthand. Reading has required extra work for Adoriona, and Jackson said teachers kept her informed about her daughter’s progress and provided materials the family could use at home.
Despite working two jobs and helping an older son through his final year of high school, Jackson made time to work on reading with Adoriona. She said her daughter progressed from around a pre-K reading level to a first-grade level.
“We’re not going to fall back,” Jackson said. “We have to keep going forward.”
For Adoriona, however, returning to school is simpler.
“It’s like a whole big family in there,” her mother said.