Why no Montessori Upper Grades?

[Anonymous]

About 9 months to a year ago, I heard there was a group in DC trying to put together a Montessori high school; it would work sort of along the lines of DCI, where all the public Montessori schools in the city would feed into one high school.

Has anyone else heard anything along these lines?

[Anonymous]

Oooh, interesting!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is also a method that was not designed for children in upper grades. Some schools in the US have extended their programs for younger children to the middle school and high school levels - with varying levels of success.

This is absolutely not true. Maria Montessori developed the program all the way through high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:About 9 months to a year ago, I heard there was a group in DC trying to put together a Montessori high school; it would work sort of along the lines of DCI, where all the public Montessori schools in the city would feed into one high school.

Has anyone else heard anything along these lines?

This is what Lee Montessori administration told parents at the orientation In the spring of this year post lottery. They are exploring this for the future. I understand that it would also be an option for private students as well like christian family montessori and Aidan that also have upper grades but no high school.

[Anonymous]

The original question was, "Why don't schools let kids into Montessori schools at higher grade levels?" The answer to that question is that by the time Montessori children enter higher grade levels (Elementary and Adolescence), they have already developed a work ethic and set of academic skills that are, hopefully, light-years ahead of their peers. These skills were developed in the Montessori Primary program. Children who are enter Montessori programs in Elementary or Adolescence without any previous Montessori experience often struggle with how much responsibility they are given over their own learning. They just haven't learned how to be the self-starting learners like the children who have graduated from a healthy Primary program. They often also struggle with academics. For instance, it is not uncommon for children who have graduated from Primary to be able to write and read with a fair amount of fluency and have a basic knowledge of the function of words (grammar). They have also been exposed to and have been practicing addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division - of 4 digit numbers. They have spent the past 3 years developing a physical impression of geometric and algebraic concepts that they will discover in Lower Elementary (1st - 3rd grade).

Because this conversation kind of changed topic to Wether or Not There Are Montessori High Schools, I am adding some links about Montessori for Adolescents.

Below is a link to Maria Montessori's own writings about what an adolescent program should look like.
[https://archive.org/details/TheErdkinderAndTheFunctionsOfTheUniversity]

Below is a link to Michlael Olaf's page of mussings on Montessori Middle and High School. Michael Olaf is a catalog, but is run by people who are very well respected in the Montessori community.
[http://www.michaelolaf.net/montessori12-18.html]

Below is a link to Hershey Montessori school. It is considered to be the embodiment of what Maria Montessori would have done if she had been able to fully develop the Adolescent program in her lifetime.
[http://www.hershey-montessori.org/adolescentcommunity.cfm]

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: The answer to that question is that by the time Montessori children enter higher grade levels (Elementary and Adolescence), they have already developed a work ethic and set of academic skills that are, hopefully, light-years ahead of their peers.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha.

[Anonymous]

Not DCPS, but Waterfront Academy in SW (near stadium) is opening a middle school portion next year. Grades 5-8, I believe. Sounds like a great option for a kid who needs more attention and a smaller environment. According to the principal, Montessori middle school is very project-based, lots of individual and group projects. I am very intrigued at this option for my own child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not DCPS, but Waterfront Academy in SW (near stadium) is opening a middle school portion next year. Grades 5-8, I believe. Sounds like a great option for a kid who needs more attention and a smaller environment. According to the principal, Montessori middle school is very project-based, lots of individual and group projects. I am very intrigued at this option for my own child.

I have no beef with waterfront academy. However the head of school was an educational aide 4 years ago in DCPS. Not sure if that's the kind of instructional leadership I'd trust my kid and 15k to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Capitol Hill Montessori hasn't actually started with the upper classes yet. Its more of a plan at this point as opposed to something concrete. Time will tell whether it becomes a sustainable model or a failure. The school administration is bit too lackadaisical for me to think it will be success.

Yes, they have. They currently have kids enrolled up to 7th grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is also a method that was not designed for children in upper grades. Some schools in the US have extended their programs for younger children to the middle school and high school levels - with varying levels of success.

This is absolutely not true. Maria Montessori developed the program all the way through high school.

No she did not. In fact she was opposed to Montessori high schools and considered them experimental.

[Anonymous]

Does anyone know how long DCI was "in the works" before people really started hearing about it, and it was certain it would become a reality?

[Anonymous]

Article on Montessori secondary schools
http://www.montessori.org/sitefiles/montessori_way_HS.pdf

[Anonymous]

Capitol Hill goes to the 8th grade...and the best fit after that is School Without Walls a natural progression.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The original question was, "Why don't schools let kids into Montessori schools at higher grade levels?" The answer to that question is that by the time Montessori children enter higher grade levels (Elementary and Adolescence), they have already developed a work ethic and set of academic skills that are, hopefully, light-years ahead of their peers. These skills were developed in the Montessori Primary program. Children who are enter Montessori programs in Elementary or Adolescence without any previous Montessori experience often struggle with how much responsibility they are given over their own learning. They just haven't learned how to be the self-starting learners like the children who have graduated from a healthy Primary program. They often also struggle with academics. For instance, it is not uncommon for children who have graduated from Primary to be able to write and read with a fair amount of fluency and have a basic knowledge of the function of words (grammar). They have also been exposed to and have been practicing addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division - of 4 digit numbers. They have spent the past 3 years developing a physical impression of geometric and algebraic concepts that they will discover in Lower Elementary (1st - 3rd grade).

Because this conversation kind of changed topic to Wether or Not There Are Montessori High Schools, I am adding some links about Montessori for Adolescents.

Below is a link to Maria Montessori's own writings about what an adolescent program should look like.
[https://archive.org/details/TheErdkinderAndTheFunctionsOfTheUniversity]

Below is a link to Michlael Olaf's page of mussings on Montessori Middle and High School. Michael Olaf is a catalog, but is run by people who are very well respected in the Montessori community.
[http://www.michaelolaf.net/montessori12-18.html]

Below is a link to Hershey Montessori school. It is considered to be the embodiment of what Maria Montessori would have done if she had been able to fully develop the Adolescent program in her lifetime.
[http://www.hershey-montessori.org/adolescentcommunity.cfm]

Not uncommon for 3-5 year old montessori students to be multiplying a 4 digit number by another 4 digit number, really? For example, 5289 x 4178 = 22,097,442?

That's not what I've observed at LAMB or Shining Stars. I saw kids playing with blocks and such. Which is just fine for that age, BTW. I guess I was there on the playing with blocks day. Need to return on the multiplying 4 digit numbers day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:About 9 months to a year ago, I heard there was a group in DC trying to put together a Montessori high school; it would work sort of along the lines of DCI, where all the public Montessori schools in the city would feed into one high school.

Has anyone else heard anything along these lines?

This is what Lee Montessori administration told parents at the orientation In the spring of this year post lottery. They are exploring this for the future. I understand that it would also be an option for private students as well like christian family montessori and Aidan that also have upper grades but no high school.

Lee admin have bee upfront with Lee families about their hope to go through 8th or 12th grade.