Learning For All Abilities
TAMRA in Temple strives to help all students succeed
By AMY ROGNLIE | Photos courtesy of DR. ROSIE MONTGOMERY
True visionaries see a need and work to fill it. Such is the case with Drs. Tresa and Mike McNeal, Anne Lueke, Andy Montgomery and his wife, Dr. Rosie Montgomery, a licensed clinical psychologist. As the founding members of TAMRA Learning Academy in Temple, their dream to open a school came true in 2017. The school serves students with learning differences including autism, ADHD, dyslexia, dysgraphia and language processing disorders.
Dr. Rosie Montgomery’s career began at Baylor Scott & White, where she worked in general psychiatry and child development. In 2013, she started a private practice in Waco and served as an adjunct professor for the Clinical Psychology Doctoral Program at Baylor. She currently has her own practice in Temple, where she focuses on developmental disorders.
“Through working in my practice, I realized I was spending a lot of time devising strategies for kids to be successful in school,” Montgomery said.
She started thinking about what it would look like to have her own school where these struggling students could receive the help they needed.
“For the most part, the kids that we serve are only going to qualify for a 504 [plan for special education services] and the kids need more support than that, but the [public] school’s hands are tied, so families are hiring tutors and outside help.”
Through many conversations with friends and family, she realized all of it could be done in one location if they could find the right teachers and staff to serve these students.
TAMRA Learning Academy started with seven students and in five years, has grown to 32 students. Fully accredited through the Accreditation Commission of the Texas Association of Baptist Schools, the TAMRA model enhances students’ learning ability by addressing their social, emotional, and physical needs while embracing an educational approach that aims to create a positive learning experience for all students. TAMRA offers a learning experience supported by cognitive behavioral therapy and biblical principles. There are five licensed teachers including two of Montgomery’s daughters. The reading curriculum focuses on phonics and guided reading, and student placement across subjects focuses on individual strengths and weaknesses rather than a specific grade level.
“We focus on understanding each child’s diagnosis and how that diagnosis is affecting learning, then we try to close the gap,” Montgomery said. “For example, a student might be in fifth grade math, but second grade reading. We move kids all over to hit their strengths and work on their weaknesses.”
In addition to academics, students at TAMRA work on social skills. Using the same cognitive behavioral therapy strategies that Montgomery uses in her practice, students learn how to modify their own thought patterns and behavioral patterns. “We try to catch students before they reach frustration point,” she said. To reinforce the skills they are learning, younger students work weekly with the school psychologist to practice social thinking — talking about what happened during the week and relating those events to what they are learning.
Currently, the school serves students in K-8, but they do offer a “guided homeschool” program for high schoolers that is taught at the school by a certified teacher who specializes in project-based learning. Some of the high school students also participate in local programs such as gaining workforce skills at Eldredge Nursery or the Texas Workforce program at Temple College where they can earn dual credits. The school also offers a summer program for TAMRA students and those in the community who need extra support, particularly with dyslexia.
LEARN MORE
Website: tamralearning.com
Phone: 254-721-0996
