The Purpose of Montessori Education

Why Montessori?

Why Montessori? Does a Montessori education really prepare children for the real world? The answer is “Yes!” The Method has proven to be effective for over 90 years in tens of thousands of Montessori Schools around the world. At Santa Monica Montessori School, our primary goal is to foster independence in each child, develop initiative, encourage the development of a creative mind, develop inner discipline and most importantly, a lifetime love of learning.

Individualized Attention

Children teach themselves. This simple but profound truth inspired Montessori’s lifelong pursuit of educational reform with the goal of inspiring children to achieve academic and personal excellence. Our well trained Montessori teachers guide each child through sequential learning materials in our prepared environment. We specialize in individual attention to guide a child’s individual emotional, character and intellectual development.

Social Development

Next to the family, the school is the most important social institution through which we prepare the next generation. In a Montessori classroom, children work together with children their own age, as well as younger and older children. In addition, the respect that they are given from the teachers and their classmates supports the development of the child’s self-esteem, an important component of social development.

Intellectual Development

Montessori education is one of the most sophisticated pre-collegiate programs available anywhere in North America. It has been described as the ultimate program to bring out the “gifted” in each child. Each classroom is designed around a specific plane of development, allowing each child to be educated according to his or her sensitive period, when he or she can most readily absorb specific information.

This article entitled “The Early Years: Evaluating Montessori Education” by Angeline Lillard and Nicole Else-Quest features one of many scientific studies about the Montessori outcome:

This WebMD article is entitled Montessori Kids: Academic Advantage?

The following report was sponsored by NAFMA (North American Montessori Teacher’s Association), an affiliate of AMI (Association Montessori Internationale):

“A Comparison of Montessori and Traditional Middle Schools” by Kevin Rathunde (pdf)