Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy montessori education and identifying gifted kids

"Montessori School" is a pretty broad term. There are a lot of differences and one really need to visit a school to find out what it is really like. It's not a trademarked term so anyone can hang out a shingle and call themselves a Montessori.

I looked her's up. It is pan american certified, and has other nature playground certs, but i'm not sure its relevant.

Yes, absolutely. However, that's because the concept of “giftedness” doesn't translate well into a really good Montessori classroom where children are allowed to progress at their own pace. One child might move through the math curriculum very quickly, while another might speed right through the language work. On the other hand, certain children need many repetitions on every piece of work and that is okay too.

Our (MG) daughter started at a Montessori school when she was 3 y/o and has been there for 6 years. The first 5 years were excellent because her teachers always introduced her to work when she was ready for it. There was no endless repetition of anything that she had already mastered. She was very happy and challenged. (This last year hasn’t been quite as good, mostly due to a new teacher who has been trying to keep all of the same-aged children in a lock-step curriculum, but I will set that issue aside for now. Ineffective teachers can be found in all schools, not just Montessori ones.)

When we would go to parent teacher conferences, DD’s teachers would show us examples of her work and discuss what materials she was using and what she was learning from them. (For example, “She has been really focused on using the racks and tubes to learn about division lately.”) Coming from a more traditional educational background, I found it a little frustrating that they never compared her to other students. I always secretly wanted to ask, “And how many other children have been introduced to division? Is she the best at it? What is her percentile rank?” However, those comparisons are just not part of the Montessori culture, and if you aren’t comparing the children to one another then there isn’t as much reason to label a child as “gifted”.

Ideally those questions aren't part of gifted "culture," either. Really the only question that should be asked (particularly in lower grades) is, "Is my child engaged at school and being challenged in a way that's appropriate for them?" Being labeled as gifted is simply a recognition that the normal standard for teaching is not going to cut it. It doesn't require direct comparisons between children.

I am not quite sure what you mean by "gifted culture", but I certainly agree that it would be best if all children were appropriately challenged without being compared or labeled. Unfortunately, that seems to be standard in most traditional public school settings where an entire class of students is being taught the same things at the same time. In that situation, parents are required to prove that their child can work at a faster pace than the rest of the class before they are allowed any sort of differentiation.

I've been thinking about this since I saw George's post. I think what I miss the most about the good Montessori experience our son and thus we had is that yes, people noticed what he could do.... And then they supported him in doing it. Just like they did for the other students. Life would be so much easier if this was the case in all schools. It would remove the "glory/stigma" that gifted labels and programs can produce and just let kids learn. All kids.

AAC,

I think problems with young kids are in general are more easily spotted if the child is less compliant. Shortly after we took our son out, we ran into a mother whose daughter was in the same room. She was so interested in how we were able to extract ourselves. She didn't feel that her daughter was happy in that environment but the father liked the academic aspect and paid all the tuition upfront. The daughter is a quite and sweet little girl, and not a behavioral problem at all. They would have lost all of their money were they to withdraw her even though they felt that she was not too happy. In our case, the school did not think we were a good fit either so they were eager to let us off of the hook as well.

I am not sure your case is as dire as mine was. Your child seems to be happy enough. Also the Montessori primary room is for 3 to 5 years old. The 2's room is really not part of the original school plan. They mostly do practical life tasks to get them independent. And that is really important too. I have to say though that the 2s rooms all seemed to quiet for my taste in the schools I visited. I am not sure I like Montessori for 2 year olds.

What I meant by "gifted culture" was the adoption and support of an educational environment that provides kids who have been identified as gifted learners the means to succeed. There's plenty of evidence that such a culture exists, largely because such communities clearly exist (even if some of them, such as this one, are largely online in nature). It might be weird to some to think about the Gifted Issues Discussion Forum as a community, but to many, it functions very much like one.

My point is that gifted culture should also include a recognition (by both parents and educators) that success does not equal "more work" nor should it equal "consistently tests better than age peers." I think there is, unfortunately, a very strong desire among many to see how these kids "measure up" to their age mates, whether they be in a pull-out gifted program in a mixed-ability school or in a gifted magnet school. I think those feelings are often rooted in insecurity.

• "If my kid really belongs in this program, shouldn't they be proving it in some measurable way to justify them staying in it?" - concerned parent of gifted kid
• "Kid A is in the gifted program but doesn't test as high as kid B who isn't in the gifted program. How is that fair to kid B?" - concerned parent of kid B
• "My gifted program / school is funded with the expectation that our kids will score higher on standardized tests than kids who aren't in the program. If they don't score higher, does this mean that the program / school will lose funding?" - concerned administrator

DS7 recently took a standardized test which was normed against, among other things, surburban public and independent schools across the country. The school reported to me, among other things, his percentile rank against these various norms. I did ask the school administration why I should care about these scores, and shouldn't I really just care about how well he's engaged and being challenged. They responded that my perspective was "refreshing" coming from a parent, which makes me think that the "concerned parent of gifted kid" profile insecurity is pretty common!

By the way, I just wanted to make it clear that we've been extremely happy with both DS's teachers and administration at his school this year. It's been great, and we're looking forward to continued success for him there in coming years.

All, thank so much. This is a really interesting discussion. My daughter does seem really happy. My concern is only because she is very compliant, and I DO want her to be challenged and engaged. I have no interested in comparing her to her age-mates, but I did wonder if perhaps the non-comparison and her compliance was keeping her for engagement, if that makes sense.

I'm not worried. It was really more of a curiosity, since there seems to be as much discussion about montessori and I had been noticing some things with her and her classmates.