Tremendous post. Question about Montessori middle/high. The Montessori leaders I know describe steady decline of enrollment around Grade 3....at least one parent says "Enough with playing with string, Junior needs to learn the capital of Montana" etc. Is that broadly true?
1. Montessori enrollment typically declines after preschool simply because of free public school.
2. Most Montessori schools have a pyramid enrollment with fewer and fewer staying at every level, so very large Montessori preschools keep some as they go up the grades, but typically fewer at every level.
3. Part of the situation is that the two systems seem so different - and often public schools actively cultivate fear of "falling behind" when kids are at any different kind of system. At the same time, I've known many Montessori schools that are anti-testing. As a consequence I've seen Montessori schools where the students are 2-4 years ahead academically yet where parents are freaking out that their kids were behind. I think Montessorians need to be less reflexively anti-testing. In my experience, most Montessori kids are, in fact, way ahead of public school kids in most respects. As a relevant aside, Alpha School, mentioned above, is very aggressive at playing the "our academic metrics are superior" game.
4. Montessori often doesn't work as well in upper elementary school. I think Maria Montessori's great work of genius is her preschool program. Done well, it is remarkable. Similar principles work pretty well in lower elementary school as well (up to around grade 3). By upper elementary school, kids want to be way more social (there is little student talk in a Montessori preschool). Also the "hands on" manipulative principles on which Montessori was based are more appropriate for younger children. By upper elementary academic work is becoming more abstract. Great Montessori upper elementary guides can solve these issues effectively, but it takes more guide talent, it is less a perfected pre-built system. I personally encourage more social interaction (e.g. Socratic dialogue) and more abstraction in Montessori upper elementary and secondary.
5. In part because the system doesn't work as well on its own in upper elementary, and in part because of parent demand and expectation, there are many upscale private schools that start with a Montessori preschool and maybe keep Montessori lower elementary, but which essentially become conventional schools in upper elementary.
6. Maria Montessori herself designed her preschool in 1910s and got started on elementary in 1920s. But then Mussolini chased her out of Italy, she spent WWII in India, then came back to Holland and died in the 1950s. Thus the development work on Montessori education was severely challenged. What she achieved despite everything is amazing. But as a movement, government educational systems and academic education professors around the world have mostly been hostile. When Montessori was revived in the US in the 1960s (it flourished in the US in the 1910s and then was killed by hostility from academics) first as a preschool movement in the 60s and 70s. Gradually more of those schools matured into elementary programs in the 70s and 80s. By the 1990s when I became involved, most Montessori middle schools were still new programs. When I developed a Montessori high school program in the 2010s, there were very few high school programs anywhere. Thus it has taken a very long time for a marginalized system to develop. I once calculated that the average Montessori educator sacrificed about $2 million in lifetime income as compared to a public school teacher, while working longer hours and receiving fewer benefits. Thus I see Montessori secondary to be very much still under development.
Wow, that's such a thoughtful comment, I feel like I already owe you a beer or something if you're in Boston. Everything you're saying tracks with my experience/observation. I've often wondered about privately studying the effects of Montessori, micro school, homeschool, and other test averse or perhaps "test cautious" approaches. Often a reasonable chunk of the parents are less averse than the teachers/institution. Of course there is perhaps selection bias in which parents feel that way.
Tremendous post. Question about Montessori middle/high. The Montessori leaders I know describe steady decline of enrollment around Grade 3....at least one parent says "Enough with playing with string, Junior needs to learn the capital of Montana" etc. Is that broadly true?
Thanks. A couple of things:
1. Montessori enrollment typically declines after preschool simply because of free public school.
2. Most Montessori schools have a pyramid enrollment with fewer and fewer staying at every level, so very large Montessori preschools keep some as they go up the grades, but typically fewer at every level.
3. Part of the situation is that the two systems seem so different - and often public schools actively cultivate fear of "falling behind" when kids are at any different kind of system. At the same time, I've known many Montessori schools that are anti-testing. As a consequence I've seen Montessori schools where the students are 2-4 years ahead academically yet where parents are freaking out that their kids were behind. I think Montessorians need to be less reflexively anti-testing. In my experience, most Montessori kids are, in fact, way ahead of public school kids in most respects. As a relevant aside, Alpha School, mentioned above, is very aggressive at playing the "our academic metrics are superior" game.
4. Montessori often doesn't work as well in upper elementary school. I think Maria Montessori's great work of genius is her preschool program. Done well, it is remarkable. Similar principles work pretty well in lower elementary school as well (up to around grade 3). By upper elementary school, kids want to be way more social (there is little student talk in a Montessori preschool). Also the "hands on" manipulative principles on which Montessori was based are more appropriate for younger children. By upper elementary academic work is becoming more abstract. Great Montessori upper elementary guides can solve these issues effectively, but it takes more guide talent, it is less a perfected pre-built system. I personally encourage more social interaction (e.g. Socratic dialogue) and more abstraction in Montessori upper elementary and secondary.
5. In part because the system doesn't work as well on its own in upper elementary, and in part because of parent demand and expectation, there are many upscale private schools that start with a Montessori preschool and maybe keep Montessori lower elementary, but which essentially become conventional schools in upper elementary.
6. Maria Montessori herself designed her preschool in 1910s and got started on elementary in 1920s. But then Mussolini chased her out of Italy, she spent WWII in India, then came back to Holland and died in the 1950s. Thus the development work on Montessori education was severely challenged. What she achieved despite everything is amazing. But as a movement, government educational systems and academic education professors around the world have mostly been hostile. When Montessori was revived in the US in the 1960s (it flourished in the US in the 1910s and then was killed by hostility from academics) first as a preschool movement in the 60s and 70s. Gradually more of those schools matured into elementary programs in the 70s and 80s. By the 1990s when I became involved, most Montessori middle schools were still new programs. When I developed a Montessori high school program in the 2010s, there were very few high school programs anywhere. Thus it has taken a very long time for a marginalized system to develop. I once calculated that the average Montessori educator sacrificed about $2 million in lifetime income as compared to a public school teacher, while working longer hours and receiving fewer benefits. Thus I see Montessori secondary to be very much still under development.
Wow, that's such a thoughtful comment, I feel like I already owe you a beer or something if you're in Boston. Everything you're saying tracks with my experience/observation. I've often wondered about privately studying the effects of Montessori, micro school, homeschool, and other test averse or perhaps "test cautious" approaches. Often a reasonable chunk of the parents are less averse than the teachers/institution. Of course there is perhaps selection bias in which parents feel that way.