Several years ago I did quite a bit of research on this. Because we moved while the kids were still preschool age we've enrolled our children at three different Montessori schools (all private) and I have toured quite a few others.
While I agree with most of Sittin Pretty's post, in my experience it is very easy to gauge the level of "Montessori-ness".
First off, AMI schools (this is the International organization) tend to follow the Montessori approach to the letter. AMS schools are hit or miss. My children attended an excellent, but very expensive AMS school in the NY area. They also attended a mediocre AMS school in the south which we switched out of mid-year in favro of an AMI school. In my limited experience, AMI schools are consistently good, AMS schools are a crapshoot, and schools that are neither AMI or AMS are complete garbage.
This sounds harsh but when you think about it...why would you claim to be a Montessori school when you really aren't? Why wouldn't you just incorporate the Montessori concepts you admire and give your school a generic name? IMHO it calls the administration's credibility into question.
Without getting into the details of Montessori, here are some obvious characteristics of Montessori schools:
- Mixed age classrooms - 3-6 and 6-12
- A lead teacher and an assistant in the class
- A fairly high student/teacher ratio
- An immaculate, organized classroom
- High (or rigid, depending on your perspective) expectations on student to care for classroom equipment and use it properly
- All areas are equipped to facilitate the children's independence as much as possible. Coat hooks at the proper height, child sized tables and chairs (for eating, work is frequently done on the floor), low cabinets, a low sink where the children clean up after meals...
- A my way or the highway attitude. This isn't as bad as it sounds as it tends to weed out parents who can't get their shit together. OTOH, if you have a child with very, very specialized needs it could be an issue.
We were very happy with the Montessori approach. I think my younger son could have used a little more structure and both kids could have benefited from more aggressive intervention to deal with the relatively poor writing skills. But no place is perfect and I frequently tell people that i am just as happy with what my children did NOT learn at their Montessori school as I am with what they did. Additionally, the school they most recently attended attracted families with very intelligent children. A very high percentage of my children's classmates have gone on to programs for highly gifted children.
However, I have heard from parents who felt that their children were not adequately accelerated. I don't doubt this.
