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I was patiently waiting for School of the Woods to post 2013 graduates on their website, so I could include in the below college analysis. I can't understand why SOTW has not posted graduates yet? They usually do it the day after graduation?
Before I begin, let's take a quick look at where School of the Woods says grads go (http://i40.tinypic.com/r7uob9.jpg) This list is VERY deceiving. How many of you think high school graduates attended Harvard, MIT, UC Berkeley, Yale, etc? The real answer is none. The school is taking credit for ANY alumni. A 12 year old leaves School of the Woods, finishes K-12 at another school, gets into Harvard and School of the Woods takes credit! This seems to be a recurring theme. Administrators bring new meaning to the term "technically" not a lie.
The real data paints a much different picture (http://i43.tinypic.com/t0ng2u.jpg) I found graduates for 2007 and 2009 through 2012. A total of 69 schools are represented by the data. Note: More than one graduate may have attended a mentioned school in a single year. SOTW only reports unique schools attended, not by individual graduate.
The first oddity is to look at the schools not in bold. In 2011, Boston University, Texas A&M and UT Austin are listed as acceptances, but not attended. What student passes on Boston University? Maybe it was for financial reasons? But A&M/UT are in-state and much more affordable. And this is not a one-off. Every year, better schools are listed than those actually attended by students? Some may wonder if "wait list" schools are being included?
Bottom line on the spreadsheet analysis -- not good. Only 7 of 69 schools attended are in the Top 50 US News and World Report rankings. Even if we go out to Top 200, number is only 24. And know this… University of Houston is a Top 200 school (#184)! So, the other 45 schools in the list are not as good as University of Houston. Let me say that one more time… you spend $100,000 on a high school education and there is a 65% chance you will be sending your child to a school less prestigious than the University of Houston!!
By contrast, the local neighborhood (free) high school (http://i40.tinypic.com/smv9sh.png) saw acceptances to many top schools (Yale, Columbia, UPenn, Northwestern, Cornell, Rice, etc) in 2012 alone (they posted their 2012 graduates).
If I go back to my very first post, I was just a parent on an emotional rant. "Avoid at all costs!" From there it became cathartic, like I was helping one child avoid this mess. Now, I am starting to question the morals of the administrators and the oversight of the accreditors. This is moving beyond parents in a cult or kids who want to be coddled. What happens when college admissions officers get a hold of all this data?
The most beautiful sound I ever heard. Maria, Maria, Maria... Say it loud and there's music playing, say it soft, and it's praying... what a wonderful tribute to the greatest 'Merican educator of all times. Or did I ever really know her? What are the real facts about the connection that the educators at the School of the Woods have with academia? Why is everything, other than empty flowery cult-like statements that have no factual basis, a big, dark secret? Who is running this insane asylum? Why did their top student (according to SOTW) receive a SAT grade so low, that a public school located about a mile away would consider that student to be in their lowest ten percent? Parents donating large amounts to the building fund for years, with no building whatsoever should be given an accounting/explanation. Something, other than flowery language. But, hey, if these so called parents of normal students who are supposed to protect their children from charlatans do not seem to give a damn... So many questions, so little time. It's about time to get some real (civil and/or criminal related) answers.
“Just a heads up for freshmen and sophomore parents. It is also good to get extended time approval early so freshmen and sophomore parents please submit information now.”
This is the message delivered each year by the principal at School of the Woods. She is encouraging high school parents (and middle school in a different email) to request their child not have any time limitations when taking standardized tests. 80%+ of the parents make the request. Can you imagine the message this sends your child? You certify your child has ADHD or some other learning disability?
Maria Montessori was about taking mentally challenged kids and showing the world they can learn. School of the Woods does just the opposite. They take bright kids and set them on a trajectory to never reach their potential. You would think the school would post scores on their home page and show the world Montessori prepares your child better than any other educational method. There is a reason for secrecy (and still no 2013 college graduate info posted!). Let’s look at a few more examples…
The chemistry final entailed going to a teacher’s house to make two pizzas, one with salt, and then talking about the “chemical reaction” of the salt on the pizza. How does this prepare the student for college? How do you grade this final? You don’t. Everyone gets a 100!
a
Your teenager’s English teacher has an art degree, works as a puppeteer and teaches circus arts. Yet, School of the Woods believes this background is adequate enough to teach High School English? Parents are impressed (duped!) by the school offering Circus Arts (http://i41.tinypic.com/j0h65e.jpg) as an elective (and remember no computer elective!). Instead of hiring academic teachers who teach electives on the side, School of the Woods hires puppeteers (http://i42.tinypic.com/16k8b6f.jpg), who teach English on the side.
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You would think the person who hires unqualified teachers would be fired. But remember, the principal who hires these individuals is the EXACT same person who certifies them as Montessori teachers in the first place (http://houstonmontessoricenter.org/). And who's going to fire a principal who's been at School of the Woods since 1974 (40 years!). She's older than most of these kids' grandmothers!
a
To Shugi’s point above, students with straight As in the high school are getting 1500s on their SATs. Reason? They don’t teach to the test. But the test is what gets your child into college! Real reason? C level students are getting As because they get to retake the test multiple times (mastery thing). Many tests are open book and students cheat by using another student’s notes on the material or just taking the test a week late, ensuring plenty of time to get the answers from friends.
a
All freshmen are put into Algebra II, regardless of readiness. Teacher has to teach to the slowest kid. Note how after Christmas break, the class is still only on chapter 3 (http://i39.tinypic.com/2pyug4x.jpg). There are 16 chapters in the textbook (http://i42.tinypic.com/2gxn1g9.jpg) and you’ve only covered 3 chapters in 4 months? This helps explain the 1500 SATs!
a
Think your middle school kid is taking standardized tests? Not the whole thing… Science and Social Science standardized tests are not taken in middle school (http://i41.tinypic.com/mcrh20.jpg). Yet science (Natural World) and social studies (Social World) are taught each year? Why not tested in science or social science? Are you kidding me?! How would you like to explain dismal test scores to middle school parents?!
Montessori is supposed to be the best educational system on earth. This is Maria’s legacy… excellence in education. What the hell happened?
Maria Montessori would never stand for this. What type of school leader allows all this to go on, day after day, year after year? Glad you asked! School of the Woods principal, program designer and national Montessori speaker (all one person!) has a doctorate (http://i42.tinypic.com/follx3.jpg) from a tiny school that accepts 99.9% of applicants, filed for bankruptcy ten years before this PhD was granted and had to completely restructure their PhD program in 2002, after being investigated by the State of Ohio (Union Institute rules get stricter). And if you assumed a doctorate in education or a doctorate from a top school, think again.
Who do you blame? The parents? Complain and we’ll throw your kid out. The teachers? Our principal is out of the country. The students? We are enjoying the best four years of our lives. The school? YES!!! But what about Montessori herself?
There are two Montessori governing bodies operating in the United States (AMS and AMI). Certified by AMS? Don’t expect to teach at an AMI school. This is how little these two bodies get along. (The Great Montessori Schism - Emily Chertoff - The Atlantic) We also need to be careful hailing Montessori as someone who puts children first. She put her own son in foster care (http://i40.tinypic.com/21d0jfc.jpg) for 15+ years. The Montessori name is not trademarked, so I can open a Montessori school tomorrow and no one will stop me. We have plenty of Maria’s writings on the first and second plane, but only one essay (Erdkinder) for the 12-18 year olds. Published in 1948 (Maria was 78), Erdkinder is nothing more than an appendix based on some of her talks.
Erdkinder is a german word meaning “earth children.” The entire essay is about putting your middle and high school students in a “farming” school, far away from the city, sheltered from city life, working the land (Hershey Montessori School) Note the irony of mathematics being misspelled on this site. Let me keep going… AMI, in 2012, adopted a new approach to adolescent teaching. But it was written by the North American Montessori Teachers' Association (NAMTA), yet ANOTHER organization with its own ideas (interpretation) of Montessori (http://i44.tinypic.com/2lax1lc.jpg).
To the attendees of Montessori Congress (Montessori Congress 2013) about to kick off in Portland. Come clean with your data. Make peace with each other and merge for the sake of the method. Quit certifying non-teachers. And hold schools like, School of the Woods, accountable.
[LIST=1][*]The chemistry final entailed going to a teacher’s house to make two pizzas, one with salt, and then talking about the “chemical reaction” of the salt on the pizza. How does this prepare the student for college? How do you grade this final? You don’t. Everyone gets a 100![/LIST]
Funny, that sounds like Post Oak. Nobody is allowed to get a bad grade. Teachers aren't allowed to write any kind of negative comment on the report cards. Teachers have tried giving students grades they deserved but Admin went in and changed the grades. No student is allowed to be given less than an 85.
Also no accountability for actually attending school. One student last year was absent 36 times. Has anything been done about this? Nope.
Commenting on EC-elementary.
We finished our year at SOW. Had a big parent-teacher conference, where the teachers, again, showed us everything my kid completed. Provided us with about 4 pages of skills my kid mastered or is on the track to master. Answered all of our questions. I was satisfied. We decided to continue with SOW next academic year. So far I am liking the program, but do keep a watchful eye on everything. I should say that PTO is very strong in EC-elementary. Parents volunteer in classrooms a lot, which means they are aware of what is going on with the classes and the material that is being taught.
Now, have nothing to say about middle or high. This is just about elementary.
The American Montessori Society has annual revenue of $3.8MM (NCCS Organization Profile - American Montessori Society Inc (060766308)). The top 5 AMS executives, alone, earn a combined $700,000. This is real money that schools are paying to be qualified by this organization. School of the Woods displays this endorsement predominantly in advertisements, because they know parents care about the school’s official connection to Maria Montessori.
AMS and AMI are celebrating themselves (this week) as beacons of Maria Montessori while students are falling with straight As. The Google founders got out just in time. In fact, it looks like many notable alumni got out while still in grade school (http://i41.tinypic.com/2vsnce9.jpg).
Here is the amazing takeaway. Of the 4500 Montessori schools operating in the United States, guess how many are accredited/recognized by AMS/AMI? 340. That’s 7%! What’s more is AMI (USA) only has 218 of the ~4500 schools with any type of connection and AMS covers 1393, including 99 outside the US.
Let’s take the AMS 1393 and back out the 99 (international) to give us 1294 US schools + the 218 from AMI = 1512 total. Thus, 2,988 (4500-1512) Montessori schools have NO relationship at all with AMS or AMI. 66% of US Montessori schools have no affiliation, except by name. 66%!!
Let me digress and do a little history. Maria and her son, Mario, founded AMI. Nancy Rambusch, leader of a Connecticut school, decided to go rogue and create AMS (1960) to “americanize” Montessori. Mario responded by setting up his own AMI training center in the US. AMS sued AMI for the Montessori name. You gotta love the audacity of a lawsuit against Maria Montessori’s own organization. Only in America! The judge said Montessori could not be trademarked by anyone… it’s a common term.
This turned out to be a disaster in the making! Nancy Rambusch is personally responsible for the fragmentation we see today. Instead of Maria Montessori prominently featured in classrooms, they should hang a picture of Rambusch. Even in 1990, one can see Rambusch’s disdain for Montessori (Nancy McCormick Rambusch, Founder of the American Montessori Society - YouTube).
Think the fighting was over in the 1960s? It wasn’t. Even in the 1970s, AMS and AMI fought it out over who should be accrediting teachers. AMS wanted exclusive US government-sanctioned, monopoly control over Montessori teacher certification. Having failed to get this control, AMS tried again in 1986. Not to be deterred, they finally got the monopoly in 1996 (montessori, Montessori Accreditation Council for Teacher Education MACTE Home).
Now we understand why 66% of the Montessori schools in the US can operate without any connection to any version of Maria/Nancy. Not just that. I can setup my OWN school accrediting organization (International Montessori Society).
Back to the analysis.
50% of the AMS schools (721/1393) only provide Montessori though 6 years old. This shows what I have thought all along. Montessori is primarily (and should be) a pre-K method.
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Only 62 (4%) go through high school. And I only see 17 (AMS) that are actually listed through age 18, including St. Stephen’s here in Houston (About Us - St. Stephen's Episcopal School)
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AMI? They don’t have any schools beyond elementary (12 years old). This makes sense. After all, there is only one appendix (Erdkinder) from Maria that covers secondary education.
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453 of the 1393 AMS schools report student size (http://i41.tinypic.com/fdzf3t.jpg). The average school size is 214. St. Stephens, mentioned above, has only 186 students and covers 18 months through 12th grade. These schools are tiny! School of the Woods averages 28 students (368/13, 12 grades + pre-K) per entire grade! High school just celebrated (http://i40.tinypic.com/3509k0i.jpg) graduating their 158th student in 11 years. That an average of 14 graduates per year!
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Notice the MSAC in AMS list (analysis spreadsheet)? This is yet ANOTHER organization (Montessori School Accreditation Commission). MSAC appears to be is a branch of the National Center for Montessori Education (NCME), yet the address points to AMS in New York.
Maria Montessori School in San Diego is listed as an associate member on the AMS site (http://i41.tinypic.com/2poyvxi.jpg) but accredited by MSAC (Accredited Montessori Schools). Yet, both of these sites have the same AMS contact information? Which is it?
The Montessori Congress kicked off yesterday and it’s the first time in 40 years it has been hosted in the United States. Here is my message to all leaders… STOP!! For God’s sake, just stop. You all have an equal hand in the perversion of Maria Montessori. Maria would be SO ashamed of all of you.
AMS and AMI must merge now. Nancy and Mario are dead. Get over it. Even together, you only have a marginal chance of keeping Montessori whole. Accredit teachers by subject. If a puppeteer wants to be a Montessori teacher, great, but that teacher is only certified to teach art or theater. Relax your accreditation standards. You have made it impossible and with only 7% accredited, it undermines the validity of your organizations. Do not accredit secondary education. Let middle school and high school be “Montessori inspired.” If not, you are inviting the Department of Education on your doorstep. Finally, embrace technology in Pre-K and elementary. Maria would have used it. If you don’t, I fear Montessori will not have much of a future. Sandpaper letters is fine as an iPad app.
We were moved to a new class with new teachers. Still elementary.
Teachers stressed how important communication to them. Provided their cell numbers and emails. At the end of the first day they called all parents to update how their kids did in the class. I got a call too. We also had a parent meeting where we went over all of the policies. So far so good.
I am also very happy about how strict the school is about food. This has been a struggle for me here in the US. Most schools&daycares serve crap and a lot of them won't let kids bring their own lunches. SOW doesn't even allow cupcakes for birthdays - too much sugar. Now my daughter takes healthy lunches and I don't have to worry about someone giving her candy as a reward for some homework done well.
Two of my children attended School of the Woods and one attended Woods High School. Both are at top ranked universities, which were their #1 choices. One was a National Merit Commended Scholar. One is majoring in Physics. Both do not use drugs and both do not drink. School of the Woods and Woods High School are wonderful, but they are not for everyone.
Your post recommends checking GreatSchools.com. Everyone should be aware that the Great Schools organization takes their data from an out of date and unverified government database. They publish this information without authorization or confirmation from the schools they list and then demand that the school itself join Great Schools to support their advertising. They also post advertising beside the school information which implies that the school endorses the products and services shown. For most schools, such advertising is in violation of their policies and requests to remove it are ignored.
It is also notable that the only thing required to join Great Schools is an email address. There is no verification that the member is a parent, student, or staff member. Their support organization does not respond to reports of postings which violate their usage agreement whether they are good or bad.
When reading reviews, it is important to remember that they may be posted by a knowledgeable person or by an unhappy adolescent who is pouting because they were asked to take responsibility for their actions.
You seem to have missed the posting of the School of the Woods high school graduation information. Google stats indicate that it has been in place since May. (School of the Woods - Class of 2013 Facts)
Many of your allegations are very serious and I have difficulty understanding what your obsession is with the top 50 universities. Many parents are more interested in finding an educational environment which will allow their child to develop their full potential than they are in displaying a "My Child Goes to Harvard" bumper sticker.
MIT, Harvard, CalTech, Princeton, and Stanford are hall wonderful institutions and probably have more Nobel Prize winners on the faculty than all of the "lower ranked" schools put together. Don't count on your undergraduate receiving any instruction from one Nobel laureates.
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Maria, Maria, Maria
The American Montessori Society
