Montessori grading follows the Mastery model of education.  Students review their own work and redo problems answered incorrectly.   In Mastery learning, students demonstrate to the teacher a certain level of proficiency before they move on to subsequent information.  A variety of instructional techniques may be employed by the teacher until it is clear that the student understands.

State-mandated standardized tests, by contrast, represent another method of assessing what students know.  Standardized tests measure what all students know at one particular time in their development.  This sort of testing can seem inconsistent with the Mastery learning model employed in Montessori schools.  Standardized tests are not designed for students to revisit and redo items answered incorrectly.  Rather, they are designed to measure what students in a given school know at a given point in time.

It is important to note that, while CMCS is required to take these standardized tests, we do not and will not "teach to the test."  Nevertheless, whatever these tests do measure indicates that CMCS students are on par with other schools in the Waccamaw schools in English language arts, math, science, and social studies. 

Last year, students at CMCS in grades 3 - 6 took the ACT Aspire.  This was a new state standardized timed test.  ACT Aspire test scores and the SC PASS scores (social studies and science for grades 4 - 6) will be sent home with your child September 23rd.  With these tests you will receive normative charts, so you will be able to see where your child scored in relation to his/her same grade level peers in South Carolina.  Again, CMCS's scores are very good school-wide.  Writing scores across the district dropped significantly.  Last year was the first year students had a 30-minute time limit to draft and write their essays. 

This year we aimed to bring more life to our math homework and give the students more practice with each concept presented.  Today's math student is asked to think about math using data as well as by chunking numbers by 10's and 5's.  With the help of Dr. Cathy Scott, CMCS Board member and professor at Coastal Carolina University, CMCS teachers tailored math homework workbooks to connect Montessori math with the newer math problems.  These problems also target the updated SC math standards.

In summary, test data is used to compare our students to grade level peers across the district and across the state.  It will always be our primary goal, however, to use any test data to help us best prepare our children's environment to create the most individualized instruction experience possible.  And we will continue to assess our student's progress through a Mastery learning model, because we believe that demonstrating understanding through trying, making mistakes, reviewing and coming at it again until you've "got it" is the true sign of acquiring knowledge.

Kindly,
Dr. Hunt  

Dr. Hunt will appear live on WPDE 15, the ABC affiliate, on

• Thursday, September 24th
• sometime between 12 - 12:30 p.m.

for a new segment, " On the Road in Georgetown County." She will be promoting Coastal Montessori Charter School and our Open Enrollment period beginning October 1st.  Tune in!