Do Montessori Schools Follow Common Core?

A question that comes up quite often during our school tours is whether Montessori schools follow Common Core standards. Before we dive into this very popular question, let’s define the Montessori Method of education as well as the Common Core.

The Montessori Method is based on self-directed activity, hands-on learning, and collaborative play. In a Montessori classroom, children make creative choices in their learning, while classroom materials and trained teachers offer age-appropriate individualized activities to guide the process and their progress.

Essentially a set of English and Math standards across 45 states meant to prepare K-12 students, Common Core and the Montessori Method work together to enhance elementary school childhood independence while helping raise successful adults.

Lifetime Montessori School embraces and enhances Common Core curricula employed by public elementary schools. The American Montessori Institute (AMI), Montessori’s governing body, has mapped all elementary public school curriculum to AMI curriculum. In California, Grade One thru Six students learn the same core curricula whether they attend private or public schools. 

The Montessori Method Difference

In a Montessori school:

• Children learn individually at their own pace rather than in a group setting

• Student to teacher ratios average 15:1 in a private Montessori elementary school, rather than 24:1 public school group settings

• Teachers strive to make topics engaging via visuals and demonstrations by teaching concepts of ‘why’ rather than just rote learning; this is how high and low achieving students with differing skill sets can learn--relative to their speed of understanding.

There are slight differences between Montessori and Common Core programs relating to ‘when’ students learn topics. But, that’s to be expected. Students may be slightly ahead or slightly behind the curve at any one point.  But, yes, the Montessori curriculum matches Common Core expectations all the way into middle school. 

Another Montessori Method Difference: ‘How’ We Teach

In a Common Core setting, a student in the back of the room may look distantly at a map of Paraguay and know that the country is ‘somewhere.’ But, at Lifetime Montessori School, students will start by reading, seeing visuals, and drawing about South America. Then, they’ll learn about Paraguay after understanding where the country is located; where it is in regards to the continent; and, where it is in regards to North America and the world.

Lifetime Montessori School’s Elementary Goal

In Common Core, kids may not get the abstracts behind the concept. 

To its advantage, though, the idea of explaining different ways to learn is a strong step in the right direction. 

Lifetime Montessori School’s goal is to teach more bilingual, grammatical, geographical, and mathematical conceptual relationships. We teach topics in a concrete way before adding the introduction of an abstract approach on top of it. 

Therefore, Montessori schools follow Common Core. Our use of concepts, visuals and materials PLUS individualized learning help enrich each student’s understanding of what they learn. In other words, the Montessori Method teaches two steps to learn while Common Core teaches one. The result: creating childhood independence that strives to raise successful adults.