Maybe the reason I am asking this question is naivete. My kids spent five years in a private Montessori school in Seattle, and so far, it was the best learning community we've been a part of and the one where they were able to achieve the most success. It seems like all of the things we are discussing in terms of education reform have already been in practice in Montessori schools for almost a century with great success. Things like:
- Individualized learning plans
- Low teacher/student ratios
- Integrated subject matters
- Project-based learning
- Experiential/hands-on learning
- Whole child learning
- A student-centric environment
- Assessment and demonstrated proficiency (vs. testing)
- Multi-age classrooms
I could go on and on. I frequently substituted as a teacher's assistant at the school, mostly with the 3-5 year olds, but also with the 6-9 year olds, and was constantly amazed at how much fun the kids had, how proud they were of their "work," how engaged they were in their learning, how advanced they were, how they cared about other students and the school, and so on. So if so many Montessori schools are already doing the things we want for education reform, why does it seem that Montessori isn't part of the conversation and getting the recognition it deserves? Do we really need to reinvent the wheel?
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