My son DOES go to an AMI school. I do wonder if that is part of the reason for his underachievement. I worry that the bar is not high enough, or even that there is no bar.
His teacher points out that a major benefit of Montessori is that he is able to advance at his pace though - i.e., he is currently getting math lessons with the 4th graders. But as you can see above, his math scores do NOT reflect his aptitude in this area. His teacher says - well, you really can't place much stock in tests..............hmmmmmmmmmm.
TeriS -
I fear that you might have this backwards. A kid with sloooooow processing speed isn't going to get great scores on speed Math no matter what school you put him in. The difference is that in a speed-Math school the child will be held down conceptually to the level of his Processing speed, while a school thei the concept-Math orientation will allow a pokey kid with High Understanding to move ahead.
Seriously, the only way to know what is going on at ANY school is to plant tush into a chair for some 30 minute intervals and observe, compared what happens when the child tries to learn new things with you at home. Yes it's unfair on some levels, but it's the only way.
If your son loves his school, is happy, and is learning who to learn new things, I would be loath to switch him. His current school may needs some tweaking, but that isn't unusual for an unusual kid.
Love and More Love,
Grinity
