{"id":11540,"date":"2015-06-30T15:27:50","date_gmt":"2015-06-30T20:27:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/raintreemontessori.org\/current\/?p=11540"},"modified":"2016-11-01T15:28:37","modified_gmt":"2016-11-01T20:28:37","slug":"montessori-a-leap-of-faith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/raintreemontessori.org\/current\/montessori-a-leap-of-faith\/","title":{"rendered":"Montessori: A Leap of Faith"},"content":{"rendered":"

Being the parent of a Montessori child takes a leap of faith. Most of us, and this includes Montessori teachers, were educated in traditional classrooms. When we started our elementary program, we thought, \u201cWe have to test these kids. We can\u2019t be having this much fun, and the kids are learning, too,\u201d so we invested in a norm-referenced assessment, the Kaufman, testing the students at the end of third grade, and then again at sixth. But the tests didn\u2019t tell us anything we didn\u2019t already know. Sure, the tests gave us grade level\/age equivalencies and percentile ranks, comparing the student against national norms, and yes, they confirmed what we found in our weekly conferences with the students that there were some areas that were easy for them, others which required more effort, but when compared to national norms, students\u2019 scores were many grade levels higher than the norm in their favorite subject areas, and at or a couple of grade levels ahead in those less favorite. Some tested at 12th grade, 9th month in all subjects when they were in the third year of elementary! I told their parents to stop paying us tuition and send their child directly to college, jokingly, of course, because a test is a snapshot. Only a snapshot.<\/p>\n

But why did they do so well? Some students are just great test takers. Others have great DNA, and Montessori kids get a great start in toddler and primary, way ahead there, but academic ability takes one only so far. What those tests don\u2019t reveal is emotional intelligence, how a student feels about himself or treats other people. Tests tells us something about their acadmic gifts, but not their sense of social justice, concern for others, and nothing about perseverance, grit, and determination, you know, the stuff that one needs to get along in this world. No standardized test will do that. So we stopped. Cold turkey. But not just because it seemed a hallow exercise, but because we were changing how we were teaching.<\/p>\n

I hate to admit this, but knowing the tests would be administered in the spring semester, we began \u201cpreparing\u201d earlier and earlier, giving more lessons in math and language, the two subjects of the test\u2019s focus. Did we want to focus on doing better and better on those tests, or should we stop testing and stay true to Montessori, focusing on the \u201cdevelopment of the complete human being,\u201d as our mission statement states? We opted for the latter. And we\u2019ve never looked back, as they say, and instead we conference at the minimum once a week with each student. This allows us to address academics, social issues, work ethic, and quality of work, and the fact a students stays with the teacher for three years means we really get to know the child. And the Montessori \u201ccurriculum\u201d ? It is a high school curriculum distilled to its essence. There is nothing like it. Some assume that since they see children making work choices, collaborating and writing about stuff that interests them, it is a laizze-faire system. It is not. There is a plan, a very detailed plan, that goes way beyond Common Core. Colleagues in Montessori have mapped the continuum and done the comparison, and Montessori wins hands down.<\/p>\n

The thing that drives us crazy is that almost everyday some \u201cnew\u201d research study comes out that validates Montessori\u2019s work, but her name is never mentioned. Here are just a few recent findings that has \u201cMontessori\u201d written all over them!<\/p>\n