Covenant Schools are faith-based childcare and early education centers in Albuquerque and Rio Rancho. They provide strong academic programs with a Christian-based education that imparts strong foundational values in modern, safe facilities that are at convenient locations in the community.
Covenant CEO Paul Losey told us that phonics is an important part of the curriculum, “We use the classical education model. The program begins with two-year-olds building on phonics. It starts with things as simple as color and shape identification, and then it builds on letter sounds, vowel sounds, consonant sounds, and then it goes into a point where they actually learn how to read. We do assessments every year, and the majority of our children, when they go to kindergarten, are already at a second-semester kindergarten level or even a first-semester first-grade level in reading, which we feel is really important.”
Classical education focuses on forming wisdom, virtue, and deep critical thinking that explicitly focuses on character formation and moral virtue, operating on the belief that education should cultivate a love for what is good and beautiful. It relies on open-ended questioning, respectful debate, and analytical discussion to help students uncover truths rather than simply receiving lectures. It utilizes the historical Western canon and the Trivium of grammar, logic, and rhetoric.
Paul says, “The thing we hear over and over again is the children from Covenant Schools are ready, and they're prepared for kindergarten, and in a lot of ways they're advanced in their abilities both socially and academically. We focus on manners and teaching children the right things to do. We're accredited, which makes us a five-star...the highest ranking in the early childhood education department licensing.”
Paul’s daughter, Joy Losey, is the Director of Operations for the Covenant Schools. She says, “We have students who are infants, so two months old to six years old, and pre-kindergarten. We individualize group learning. How it works is we have a lesson as a group and as a whole in a school setting, and then whatever it is that we're doing to reinforce what they were taught, whether it be writing skills, phonics, math, or science. Then we have a hands-on activity to follow it, and we individualize learning, meaning if we have a student who needs help holding their pencil or sounding out a letter, the teachers are going around and individually helping them, but we are unique in the sense that we start with group lesson time for every subject.”
Joy gave us insight into the daily schedule. “In the 2-year-olds, we potty train, and then the infants are given bottles and naps throughout the day. As they get older, we have a set schedule in each classroom that incorporates circle time, and then we go to the bathroom and wash our hands, and then we come back, and we have a play time, and that might be building blocks, or we play outside. Then we move into a math lesson, and then we stand up, and we have dance time, and we get our wiggles out, and then Covenant also serves breakfast, lunch, and two snacks, so the day includes meals and then also a nap time.”
Joy told us about the emphasis on developing character. “One of the things that we want to teach the children is character development, and that's being kind and polite and obeying the first time. Like if your mom says to stop and not run in the street...you stop. So we are spending a lot of time teaching the children about the character development aspect of it. We push our chairs in because it helps keep the classroom orderly, and it helps keep the classroom clean. We line up to go to different places, and we help our friends if we see that they fall down. If our teacher asks us to do something, then we respect them and do it because it's a busy classroom and a busy world, and so that's part of the learning...to respect those around us and be polite and follow the rules because what we see is that Covenant is a foundation of education for the students.”
Covenant schools get most of their enrollments from word-of-mouth referrals from parents who find the curriculum excellent and the moral values aspect important. The center sees very little staff turnover because of the positive and collaborative work environment.
Their phone numbers are 505.797.9285 in Albuquerque and 505.994.4344 in Rio Rancho. Their website is www.covenantschools.com.