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The American Montessori Society (AMS) is the mainstay of the Montessori
movement in the United States. AMS is committed to furthering Montessori
philosophy, making it a growing educational alternative and promoting better
education for all children.
With the name "Montessori" in the public domain, it is increasingly important
to look for the AMS accreditation of the trained staff and the school itself.
For more information on AMS, go to their website
http://www.amshq.org
We are one of three schools (and the only one with an infant-toddler program)
to have received a School Excellence Award from the Houston Montessori Center
since its inception in 1975. The Center is the oldest American Montessori
Society teacher training facility in the Southwestern United States.
Corporate Hands is an organization that links employees of local corporations
to a variety of local resources, including quality child care. Corporate Hands
also offers teacher education workshops and grants to qualifying schools.
MCDS is a member of the Houston Better Business Bureau. In 2005 we were awarded
the BBB Gold Star Award.
Wednesday June 1, 2005
Dear MCDS Parents,
We recently reviewed the Metropolitan Achievement Test scores (a nationally
standardized test that all of our elementary students take in April), focusing
on the 5th graders who have been with us since enrolling in either the Toddler
or beginning Pre-Primary Programs.
Because these children have had the benefit of passionate and gifted teachers
throughout their long school career with us (for some children, it is 10 or 11
years), they have achieved amazing results.
Listed are the AVERAGE scores in grade equivalencies (10.5 means 5 months into
10th grade or halfway through the sophomore year).
| Math Procedures
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Reading
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Science
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Social Studies
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| 11.2 |
PHS |
10.3 |
10.5 |
PHS means the children's average reading level is POST HIGH SCHOOL.
If ever there were a reason to leave your child in Montessori Country Day for
the elementary years, these scores are it! They clearly show that the children
who stay in our program become life-long learners with the skills to be
successful on whatever path their desires and talents take them.
I congratulate the parents (we cannot successfully do this very important job
of helping rear and educate children without your strong interest, support and
partnership) and kudos to our passionate, gifted and invested faculty. But most
of all, I want to salute the children who are the reason we all love coming to
school each day. For more than the obvious academic excellence, our students
are to be recognized for being the best examples of kind, thoughtful, caring
citizens of this world who will make great contributions and do wonderful
things in their future.
Marge Ellison, Head of School
The following is excerpted from an article from the "Houston Chronicle", spring
of 2001:
10% of Houston-Area Private School National Merit Scholars are Former
Montessori Country Day School Students
The students, initially screened by standardized test scores, will receive one
of three scholarships -- a National Merit $2,000 scholarship, a
college-sponsored Merit scholarship or a corporate-sponsored Merit scholarship.
The college-sponsored and corporate-sponsored scholarships vary in amount.
Additional scholarship recipients will be announced later this summer.
About 1.1 million students from nearly 20,000 high schools nationwide enter the
National Merit program, and about 15,000 are named semifinalists in the fall.
Of those, more than 14,000 are selected as finalists, eligible for
scholarships. So far, 7,000 scholarships have been awarded.
The following is an article printed in the "Houston Chronicle" in the fall of
1995:
Local Montessori school takes honors for brochure design
By Micki McClelland
Houston Chronicle This Week Correspondent
"The heart of Montessori philosophy is respect for each child as an
individual," said Marge Ellison, owner and administrator of the Museum
District's Montessori Country Day School, 30 Oakdale. Add the limbs of balance,
a learning experience paced to fit the individual's needs and encouragement
toward achieving self-esteem, and you see the character of a school system
Ellison has had in place since 1979.
Italian educator and physician Maria Montessori introduced her concept for
educating children in Rome at the turn of the century. Montessori believed in
stressing the development of initiative and self-reliance. It was revolutionary
and definitely a child-centered method. Add self-discipline and the ability to
work as a self-starter, and a well-rounded individual emerges from the
Montessori Method.
"Our door faces the doors of the Museum of Fine Arts," Ellison said.
This year, Montessori Country Day School was the recipient of the 1995 Tiger
Award, given by Childcare Information Exchange, a national magazine that
focuses on the child-care industry. Centers all over the country were invited
to submit a sample of their school brochure for the competition that judged
"both design concept and how well information about your school is conveyed to
parents," Ellison explained. The cover design for her brochure "was created 14
years ago," she said. "A friend did the artwork, and I've loved the image all
these years." The freehand, pen-and-ink sketch of a little girl dressed in
overalls, carrying a lunch kit in one hand, a bouquet of flowers in the other,
is simple and charming. "You sense she's walking toward something," Ellison
observed. The line of the little girl's back and the lift of her head suggest
she's not only walking forward, but she's going with great expectations.
More than a hundred schools in the Houston area call themselves "Montessori."
Only 15 are in fact affiliated, according to Ellison. Of the 15 "three have won
excellence awards, and Montessori Country Day School is proud to be one of the
three," she said. The school has grown during its 22-year history. "We have
eight campus sites within eight blocks," Ellison said. "The toddlers have their
own building; also the pre-schoolers and the elementary school are housed in
their own space". Just recently Montessori Country Day School added classes for
fourth, fifth and sixth grades. "We have an enrollment of 250 children and a
staff of 50 educators. My own first love is teaching, but it's a full-time job
being administrator," she said. Asked what, in her opinion, a child might
expect to take from the Montessori experience that will most enhance later
life, Ellison responded, "Dignity of choice".
The Montessori system does not issue grade scores, as decades of parents who
have had children in school have come to expect. "We believe children should
have an opportunity to work at a task until they master it," Ellison said.
"However, parents are used to seeing report cards, so we gave the elementary
children the Metropolitan Achievement Test (a national standardized test used,
until recently, by HISD). "We try to use standardized as the Houston
Independent School District does," Ellison said.
"Recently the Department of Education issued a paper on what education
guidlines to follow to produce quality education," she said. "Happily enough,
what they described is a good Montessori program".
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