Primary Montessori Day School

Our son is very comfortable at Primary Montessori and loves going to school. The academics have been good so far. We have had a lot of unpleasant interactions dealing with the administrative leadership. The administrator while passionate about Montessori education, is highbrowed, cold and condescending towards parents. Rather than treat parents as partners in their child's education, her presence and tone place parents as antagonists who need to be "taught" how to handle their children when genuine questions come up. Also, the administrative secretary who is the sister-in law of the administrator is so presumptuous and rude that I am appalled by the fact that someone of that nature is handling all of the front line communication. The school doesn't value parent feedback for program improvement. We have never seen any parent surveys. The general tone is that are unexcelled by any school. The drop off/pick up loop saves time but parents don't get to go inside the school. Drop off/pick up teachers might be from one of the other classrooms. Sometimes we don't see the direct teacher for few weeks, making it difficult to find out how your child is doing unless you ask for a conference.

My child is behind in reading and math and we have to hire a private tutor for him to get ready for public school, it's insane! I went into the school couple times and the teacher is not even teaching in the room! How can the school let the assistants run the classroom and they are not Montessori trained. I would advise you to look somewhere else for authentic Montessori education.

My daughter graduated from the Primary Montessori Day School last year and my second child will be entering their primary program this coming September. My daughter attended the program from the age of 3 years old and thrived at the school. She is doing great at her new private school tested in easily to grade 3 - and the teachers at her new school have actually commented on how well-prepared she is. I have recommended the school to many of my neighbors and coworkers and they have all expressed their gratitude for the referral. . I toured MANY schools before choosing and researched all of them. Not sure if the previous poster is misinformed or what but the school is Maryland State approved the teachers all have bachelor s degrees and Montessori certification, and my understanding is while the school as a whole has chosen not to affiliate with AMS or AMI (Director was very open with me about her reasons why), it s teacher s all maintain their memberships and attend ongoing professional training. I have never felt like I did not know where my child was I had multiple conferences every year and reports. My only gripe is playground - wish it had more open space.

Education is variable. Our child completed first grade without basic reading, writing and math skills that were on grade level. She entered the public school system a full year behind academically. Fortunately, accordingly to the private tutor that we had to hire, she is quite bright and catching up as quickly as possible. Beware: While the school shows that it is a member of Montessori Associations, it is not accrediated. When we were there (2009), they did not assess children to determine if they were on grade level. Since they were not accrediated, they were not required to do so.