Northwest Montessori

Having had great experiences at the former Montessori school in our home state, I expected a certain standard in Montessori education as Northwest Montessori School stated that their school was fully accredited and recognized by the Association Montessori Internationale (AMI). The head of school, appeared eager for us to sign the contract and to get our money.As a Montessori trained guide, as someone who attended Montessori school, and observed in Montessori classrooms in the US and abroad, I found the lower elementary program at Northwest Montessori School to be of poor quality. The lower elementary classroom is like a daycare. We didn't get an opportunity to observe in the classroom and we later regretted signing the contract. We noticed practices inconsistent with Montessori method and philosophy. The leadership is also very slow in their communication. The lead teacher in the lower elementary was a stoic, unfriendly, and unwelcoming individual. I was quite appalled to hear that he would call the kids, "dodos." He also failed to provide our kid with adequate number of lessons in many areas, including math, writing, science, and reading. When we brought up our concerns, he either blamed us, our kid, or made an excuse and would not take responsibility. Our child fell behind in reading, writing, and math; science education is deficient in this classroom. Although we did a lot of tutoring at home once we realized that our child was falling behind, we wished we never sent our kid here.The most concerning was when an older child in the classroom targeted our kid and acted inappropriately with him. We brought this to the attention of the lead teacher in the lower elementary, the head of school (Elizabeth Truman), and couple of administrators many times. They were slow to respond. Elizabeth Truman even tried to put the onus on our child regarding defending and there were no real consequences for the other child. They all failed to protect our child while he was victimized many times in the presence of three adults (the lead teacher and his two assistants) until they finally separated the other child a month before the end of the semester.This place failed to provide a safe learning environment for our child, let alone offer a good Montessori education.

We are happy, our child is happy. We look forward to going to school and our child is learning many new things.

We had a very good experience here for almost 8 years as community members. The only issue was somewhat opaque leadership.

We moved from out of state and have felt very welcomed by the school and other parents. We like the Montessori materials and the school has a nice, secure, outdoor area with a playground and garden. The children also go on really interesting fieldtrips to parks, museums, outdoor education sites, take drama lessons, do art projects and cooking in the classroom, learn Spanish. Something that we learned from experiences at other schools with our older children, was about the impact of teacher and staff turnover –we are very happy that there has been little turnover here and we enjoy seeing familiar faces and getting to know the teachers. We feel that the teachers and assistants genuinely care for our son. The finance and enrollment office person is VERY kind – sweet lay who speaks both English and Spanish. While we do not participate in afterschool care – it is available and seems to be enjoyed. There is not much parking during pick-up drop-off time.

Extremely disappointed in my overall experience with this school. I have absolutely no idea how they earned an AMI accreditation, not at all what I expected given my previous experience with AMI schools. Extremely disappointed, I can't say that enough. Leadership, if you can all it that, was basically non-existent. I would highly advise touring the school, meeting the teacher and principal. The only "good" thing I can say is that the teacher assistants, although not AMI certified, were really great with the kids, and this is more than I can say for the teacher my child had and "principle". I do not recommend this school if a true montessori experience is what you are after. If you're looking for a daycare, this is your place.