Evaluation of The Child’s Progress

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Unlike the traditional education, Montessori Method evaluates the development of the child through careful observations. Traditional education tries to evaluate the child’s progress by tests, oral examinations and interpretation of his pictures, scrabbling and etc. But the child’s development is mostly inward in the early years and traditional evaluation methods do not work, the child must be observed in his everyday environment and while he is occupied with a highly focused activity. These kinds of activities will tell a lot about the child; the duration of his attention, the way he used the materials, the number of repetitions and also the end product will count for the child’s development. Therefore, in order to learn about the child’s progress we need well-defined work materials to observe the child. This is what Montessori has different from other educational methods.

Precise observations are performed during the child’s working period with the materials. Especially in the first of six years of life, it is very difficult to assess the child’s development. Whenever, the child is subjected to traditional assessment, it is known that the assessment is mostly generalizations based on very limited information. In a Montessori school, the teacher tries to collect every information about the child and the observing activity is not only limited with the Montessori works but also garden time, free play time and school trips etc. Therefore, all observations that are collected during the child’s work put a light on the child’s development. After that, in our school, the teacher, a psychologist and a Montessori program coordinator come together to assess the child’s work and teacher’s observations according to the principles of the Montessori Method and developmental psychology. A reliable assessment needs continuity, you can not assess a child with a few incidents ,therefore we follow the child and record his development. The child’s achievements, strengths and weaknesses are carefully observed, assessed and directed towards positive end results.