About Us
Rooted in Oakland. Growing for liberation.
Our Mission
Pear Tree Community School is a social justice-informed Montessori school serving historically marginalized communities through academically rigorous, socio-emotionally informed, civically engaged, and arts-infused education.
Founded in Oakland's Rockridge neighborhood, we serve preschool through 5th grade with a commitment that no family will be turned away due to lack of funds. Today, 80% of our families receive financial aid and 95% of our students are children of color.
By the Numbers
Michele Hamilton, Founder
Founder & Head of School · Educational Researcher · Parenting & Racial Literacy Specialist
Michele Hamilton is a trailblazing educator with 27+ years of experience in transformative educational change. She grew up in a low-income household in East Oakland and navigated the Oakland Unified School District despite early academic struggles — an experience that fueled her lifelong commitment to educational equity and liberation.
She founded Pear Tree as both a model school and a vital training site for educational policy development. She later established Seeds to Roots Oakland to scale the Pear Tree model nationally, and is the author of Raising Black and Brown Children: Parenting for Wholeness in a Broken World.
She writes regularly on parenting, racial literacy, and the MIRROR Framework at The Children Are Always Ours.
"The children are always ours, every single one of them, all over the globe; and I am beginning to suspect that whoever is incapable of recognizing this may be incapable of morality."
The MIRROR Framework
A proprietary approach to supporting BIPOC student success, created by Michele Hamilton.
Mirroring
Immerses children in environments that provide mirroring and reflection, building deep self-identity.
Identification
Connects students to their heritage, presenting their ancestors as innovators.
Reclamation
Recovers narratives often distorted or erased, empowering students with accurate identity and history.
Relationships
Builds culturally responsive connections, creating a supportive environment.
Orientation
Aligns school systems, policies, and practices with the mission of centering BIPOC students.
Reflection
Encourages ongoing self-assessment and research-driven development for equitable environments.
Our Educational Philosophy
Montessori Foundation
Traditional Montessori curriculum — Practical Life, Sensory, Cultural Studies, Geography, Mathematics, Language Arts.
Social Justice Lens
Decolonized curriculum centering Black, Indigenous, and students of color.
Nature-Based Learning
Hands-on sensorial experience with the natural world, woven into daily practice.
Play-Based Learning
Purposeful play integrated alongside structured Montessori work.
Project-Based Learning
Design theory, problem-posing, and real-world problem-solving.
Mixed-Age Classrooms
Intentional social-emotional curriculum developing empathy and community across ages.
From Michele's Desk
Essays on parenting, racial literacy, and the MIRROR Framework. Published at The Children Are Always Ours.
November 21, 2025
When Our Lives Depend on Being Seen: Why BIPOC Families Must Become Medical and Educational Advocates
How BIPOC families must advocate within medical and educational systems, beginning with a memory of maternal vulnerability.
November 20, 2025
Calling All The Grandmothers
An intergenerational call addressing the role and wisdom of grandmothers.
November 20, 2025
When Gentle Fails: Parenting Beyond the Entitlement Lens
Reframes contemporary parenting beyond the 'gentle parenting' framework.
November 16, 2025
Reframing the Lens: A Story about Vision, Presence, and Parenting Toward Wholeness
Personal narrative on transformative parenting moments through attentiveness.
November 9, 2025
More Than a Redemption Song
Celebrates creation and wholeness beyond merely recovering from past losses.
November 2, 2025 · Women Write
The Children Are Always Ours: Adaptive Mirroring and the Art of Shining Safely
On the impossible balance of teaching BIPOC and neurodiverse children both to shine and to survive.
Recognition
London Review of Education
Peer-reviewed article on Pear Tree's decolonial curriculum approaches (2022)
KPFA Radio
Featured on "Education Today" with host Kitty Kelly Epstein (2025)
Montessori for Social Justice
Part of the founding movement for equity in Montessori education (est. 2013)
Seeds to Roots Oakland
Pear Tree isn't just a school — it's a demonstration site. Through Seeds to Roots Oakland, our sister organization, educators from across the country observe the Pear Tree Framework in action and learn to implement equity-centered Montessori education in their own communities.
Visit Seeds to Roots