Good luck with the search. I want to emphasize another thing, look at the community. The community at the non academic 2s program we did was very laid back, parents didn't want academics.

The Montessori school we are in has a community of parents that are professors at Columbia and NYU, many foreigners (so many kids are staying in the class when 6 since they are going back to Sweden or Holland and they don't want to start K here.)

Last year one third of the kids, going on to K, scored 97th percentile or above on the SB. So you have a smart kid environment. Talk to other parents that go there and get a feel. Because I found that last year, because DD had such strong verbal skills, the teachers said the other kids sat around and listened to her, she bossed kids around, formed cliques. She doesn't have that kind of advantage at the Montessori, as older kids will tell her that they won't play with her sometimes and she is learning valuable lessons.

Ren