differences in accreditation?

[mama2rey]

I am likely going to enroll my son in a local Montessori school. We are fortunate enough to have plenty to choose from and want to make a good decision. I see that there is an AMI accreditation and an AMS accreditation (I think it the right letters!) Is there a difference of where the school is accredited?

Thank you!

[MattBronsil]

Originally Posted by mama2rey

I am likely going to enroll my son in a local Montessori school. We are fortunate enough to have plenty to choose from and want to make a good decision. I see that there is an AMI accreditation and an AMS accreditation (I think it the right letters!) Is there a difference of where the school is accredited?

Thank you!

First, take a look at this picture:

http://www.cartoonstock.com/lowres/jfa2492l.jpg

OK. Now that that's out of the way and it's officially opened, here goes.

There ARE some differences in the way these organizations are run. For the most part, both strive to offer quality Montessori programs and both often fall short in some ways, but they usually succeed.

Let me give a slightly different example that might make more sense. Your regular school district probably accredits many programs. The reality is you have to visit the schools and see which one is best. No organization makes a cookie cutter perfectly.

So, for a parent perspective, the BEST option is to visit the schools and see what works well. Some schools with one accreditation might be run poorly. Others with the same credentials might be fantastic.

There is a good sticky subject on what to look for in Montessori schools. I suggest taking the time to read the WHOLE thing...it offers a lot of good advice.

Matt

[mama2rey]

Thank you! My concern was "which one is better." I know that in some fields certain accreditations are more rigorous than others and since I am shopping.....

I am currently looking at 2 places. One is AMS accredited and the other one is a montessori based home day care (not accredited-but similar to a day care/home school). There are only 8 students there. Both are good and have good reputations in my area.

Anyway thanks! I am closing the can of worms!

[Lillianna]

My experience has been very positive with AMI - this is the organization that Dr. Montessori founded to promote her life's work. The AMI is the world-wide standard in authentic Montessori education.
AMS was originally an AMI branch but AMI withdrew the association as AMS made (controversial) changes to certain fundamentals such as length of work cycle and teacher training. I myself have seen a wide variety in the way AMS practitioners and schools apply the theory. The teacher training is also significantly different.
I agree with Matt - each family should visit an individual school to decide whether or not it is a good fit. Also, the differences between AMI and other trainings may not be apparent to the layman. There are many similarities between the organizations but the AMI most closely follows how Dr. Montessori intended her work to be applied.

[MattBronsil]

I've just found most AMI to be...eh...
There ARE GREAT AMI programs, however.

[MattBronsil]

Originally Posted by MattBronsil

I've just found most AMI to be...eh...
There ARE GREAT AMI programs, however.

Smiles just because he likes stirring up the pot....

[spedteacher30]

Honestly, I wouldn't look at accreditation. There are four Montessori schools in our small city. Only one of them is accredited. It is an AMI school. We chose to enroll our son in that one.

We are now ending what has been a two year nightmarish experience by pulling him out of Montessori entirely and going with a Reggio Emilia school. Leaving Montessori was not our first choice, but because of the nightmare from the first school, there was no other M-school willing to take a chance on him, even though he was successful in another M-school's summer program. the first school told such outrageous stories of his behavior that the second school was scared to enroll him for the year.

My gut told me not to go with the first school two years ago, but the fact that they were accredited, and had a beautiful campus, and some wonderful features made me ignore my instincts. Never again.

While I know that Montessori claims to "follow the child" we found that this was a false promise at our AMI school, and that their only solution to issues was to follow the child straight to a therapist's office. When the three specialists we went to said there was nothing wrong, they told us we went to the wrong specialists, and should have used the specific people they prefer.

I am sure there are good AMI schools, but we found that the one we chose clung so tightly to their dogma that they preferred to find something wrong with the children than to do any critical self-reflection on how they might need to modify the environment to make more children successful. they had close to 30-40% of the children seeing therapists (OTs and psychologists mainly) because they were unable to self-regulate enough to be successful. When we suggested that maybe their expectations were developmentally inappropriate, they accused us of being helicopter parents.

Anyway, long story short: don't use accreditation as your deciding criteria. Ask thoughtful and critical questions of the people at the school, and choose a school that can give you solid answers as to how they solve problems. Telling you, "there really aren't behavior issues here because the normalization process prevents it" is NOT a good answer.

[Lillianna]

spedteacher30 - I'm sorry you had a bad experience.
Thanks for sharing.
I'll get off my high horse now.

[spedteacher30]

pedagogically, we loved the AMI program. I was, however, very surprised to dig further into AMI when the problems started and see just how AMI sees the role of the parent, and how little they put into the process of social skills and behavior.

If we are ever lucky enough to have a second child, I would still consider a Montessori school, though my partner is fed up and not interested--the final straw was when we were told that part of the problem was because our son is black (and therefore he needs a "black" communication style--despite the fact that he has one white parent, and his black parent is college educated and an educator herself) rather than acknowledging that maybe their communication style was not direct enough for 4 year olds to understand exactly what they mean.

[kittykat2481]

Originally Posted by spedteacher30

pedagogically, we loved the AMI program. I was, however, very surprised to dig further into AMI when the problems started and see just how AMI sees the role of the parent, and how little they put into the process of social skills and behavior.

If we are ever lucky enough to have a second child, I would still consider a Montessori school, though my partner is fed up and not interested--the final straw was when we were told that part of the problem was because our son is black (and therefore he needs a "black" communication style--despite the fact that he has one white parent, and his black parent is college educated and an educator herself) rather than acknowledging that maybe their communication style was not direct enough for 4 year olds to understand exactly what they mean.

Really? A BLACK communication style? That is beyond words... I would be furious. No wonder your partner is fed up. That's terrible that you guys had that experience.

[Anandamama]

First of all, it's good that the schools have those affiliations because they are both reputable organizations. Montessori is not a protected name and literally anyone can call themselves "Montessori". At the very least, at an AMS or AMI accredited school has teachers who have all gone through proper training. At many "Montessori" schools you'll find that some teachers have training but there also may be some who have had on-the-job training as assitants and that is not the same.
So the accreditation does have some meaning. At the same time, you need to inform yourself of what a quality Montessori class looks like and go observe the classrooms yourself. You could find a disfunctional classroom pretty much anywhere.
As for what spedteacher said: "pedagogically, we loved the AMI program. I was, however, very surprised to dig further into AMI when the problems started and see just how AMI sees the role of the parent, and how little they put into the process of social skills and behavior". It's been a while since I did my AMI primary training but I wonder what was found to be lacking... there may be some truth to this but at the same time I know many AMI trained teachers who do great work helping children with social skills, behavioral issues and cultivating a peaceful, respectful, classroom. Perhaps it has more to do with the emphasis of individual teachers.
So sorry you had a lousy experience with Montessori, spedteacher. In my training we were taught that it is always the teacher's responsibility to figure out how to engage children and help them to feel confident and excited about school. To blame the child or parents or past teachers is to just find an easy way of avoiding responsibility.

I do think that many teachers don't know how to communicate effectively with parents or help parents to feel respected and informed.

[MattBronsil]

I made a tongue-in-cheek comment about AMI earlier. I still hold that it was a tongue-in-cheek comment. BUT...

The reality is that both sides of the AMS/AMI groups often make claims that are a pain in the neck and completely miss the point.

For me, any teacher that decides to become a Montessori teacher believes in something quite different from what we are used to. Any teacher that does this believes that children are capable of more than what most think they are capable of.

There are some differences between AMI and AMS. Usually, it's like arguing over which type of water is best....tap or bottled. 99% of Montessori teachers out there are well trained in childhood development. We believe that it is important to aid the child in becomming something fantastic.

There ARE differences between AMS and AMI training, but our ideals are the same. We both want to uphold what Maria Montessori believes is important. We both want the child to be the focus of our class. We both believe that the child will succeed in the right environment. We both agree that many reasons children do not succeed has to do with the fact that they are not in the right environment.

Many AMI people believe that Maria Montessori had it perfectly figured out; ignoring the fact that Montessori expiremented with every student she met. Many AMS people believe that Montessori had a great idea, but ignore many of her ideas.

Almost ALL Montessori people believe that children are capable to do things that are developmentally appropriate and that we should observe the children to see what is a crucial learning apportunity. I would say that if a person does not agree with this, they are clearly not Montessori.

An AMI school can be too rigid that they miss they point of experimentation. An AMS school can be too loose that they miss the point of following the method that works.

So...find what works well. Montessori, even if run by Maria Montessori herself, might not be the perfect fit for you. I believe in Montessori because of its flexibility to adapt to what students need. That said, I might find a Montessori school that is inflexible. Then the important question is not, "Is this Montessori?" The important question is "Is this the right school for me?"

I say find where you are comfortable, Montessori or not. I hope it is Montessori, but if not, I think you will do well. Don't give up your whole life just so you can have a "Montessori" class.

I sort of babbled. Sorry. Hope this helped.