Sitting on the floor cross-legged with his hands to his sides, the student was focused. He had a long division problem to solve.
But he was not going to solve it the conventional way, with a pad of paper and a pen.
The student took several squares with numbers on them and arranged them physically on the floor, so he could count them out and visually come to the answer. The multi-colored squares each represented different numbers: 1000s, 100s and 10s.
Rows of squares lined the floor vertically and horizontally as the student worked through the problem 4518 divided by 6, coming to the answer: 753.
He grinned. Other students around him were also sitting on the ground solving their own math problems. In another classroom, students were having a book discussion, and in another, they were learning to write essays. Teachers served as facilitators, while students took ownership of their learning by choosing the lessons they wanted to learn. They worked independently.
Students of all backgrounds can excel at Emerging Minds Montessori School in Boca Raton, Fla. The school groups children ages 3-6 grouped together, as well as 6-9-year-olds and 9-to-12-year olds. School officials say they focus on the needs of the whole child. They emphasize hands-on-activities and self-directed learning. When students arrive at the school behind academically, they often catch up in a few years’ time. A study released by the University of Virginia showed that Montessori schools help keep pace with their peers — where, with other educational models, they often fall behind.
“In my opinion, because children who come from lower income families don’t have the same family support the student needs a more enriched environment,” said Jeanne Weigel, head of school academics at Emerging Minds. “It is a self-motivating curriculum that allows the children to follow their already holistic needs.”
For example, if a student is fascinated with toy cars, they can build a math lesson around that concept, Weigel said.
Students move onto the next lesson when they master 90 percent of the concept. If they do not achieve 90 percent proficiency on a task, they can redo it.
The method of education, developed by Dr. Maria Montessori, is a child-centered educational approach based on scientific observations of children from birth to adulthood. Its supporters say it values the human spirit and the development of the whole child.
Weigel has seen firsthand how students from diverse backgrounds have excelled in the school. She described a young boy who couldn’t recognize a number when he came to the school at the age of 4. Now, two years later at the age of 6, he is reading at second-grade level.
“They don’t necessarily stay ahead of their peers all the time,” she said. “They learn at their own pace which allows them to not have the stresses of trying to learn something they are not prepared for. A child can seem like they are way behind their counterparts, but within a year, not only do they catch up, but surpass their peers, because they were allowed to wait until they were ready to accept the responsibility and understand the concepts.”
Weigel said giving students control over their own learning encourages them to believe in themselves — even if sometimes, society has sent them the opposite message.
“These children who come from lower-income families are given an understanding they are going to be nothing because that is what they learned,” she said. “When they get here they know they are something. Literally, the sky is the limit. It is a matter of what they want to put in. They work harder because they have more to gain.”
Weigel said her school’s approach also encourages students to teach each other.
“A child will always learn from a child better,” she said. “They are learning how to be communal leaders and social leaders.”
Emerging Minds opened in 2008 and serves students from preschool to eighth grade. About 17 out of 100 students are on the Florida tax credit scholarship, which helps low-income and working-class families pay tuition. This blog administers the scholarship. Weigel said she hopes to get more students on the scholarship.
“Our dream is to get more of those low-income children in here,” she said. “We know if we could get those students, we can make a difference.”
She’s not the only one who believes in the model. The Broward County school district recently adopted a Montessori model in a few of its lowest-performing high-poverty schools.
A University of Virginia study, published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology in 2017, looked at children picked by a lottery system in public Montessori magnet schools in Hartford, Conn. It tracked their outcomes alongside those of children in public and private schools using other models. The study followed 141 children from Pre-K through third grade.
Angeline Lillard, a psychology professor at the University of Virginia, found in her conclusion that high-fidelity Montessori preschool programs are more effective than other school programs at elevating the performance of all students, while equalizing outcomes for the disadvantaged.
“We flourish when we have a sense of choice and control,” Lillard said. “We are less apt to flourish when someone is looking over our shoulder. Montessori sets children free with interesting learning materials and allows them to engage with the material; these conditions keep their interest alive.”
Lillard said one part of the study asked children to solve two puzzles. One was difficult and the other was easy. After two minutes on each puzzle, the students were given a choice to go back to either the difficult or easy puzzle. Lillard said she found more Montessori children wanted to take on the difficult puzzle. She explained that children in non-Montessori schools are always evaluated, and knowing one is being evaluated makes people less apt to try challenging activities. Lillard believes it might be because children in Montessori schools are not evaluated with grades and they are more willing to learn for learning’s sake.
Lillard said Montessori learning is garnering more attention on the national stage with the backing of nonprofit organizations like the National Center for Montessori in the Public Sector. The organization is supporting the growth of public Montessori, according to its website. Its mission is to help public schools deliver Montessori-style personalized education. The nonprofit currently supports 79 public schools.
But the research base on Montessori remains limited, according to an article by Chloe Marshal, a UK-based researcher, in the journal NPJ Science of Learning.
However, Weigel notes when students are consistently working in a hands-on and visual learning environment, it helps them in later years.
“We actually hear from students that they can see in three dimensions,” Weigel said. “In college, when they have to do something in fractions, they can still visualize the way they physically manipulated the fractions.”
Most important, Barbara Altbrandt, co-founder of the school, said students do not only improve academically in a Montessori environment. They also learn life lessons.
“The biggest thing I noticed is they have a voice in addition to the education,” she said. “When they leave us and go into a traditional school they are rarely bullied because they will speak up. They are their own advocates.”
