Developed by Maria Montessori in Rome in the early 1900s, is child-centered, with teachers serving as guides. In the Montessori school, play is a child’s work. While there is a focus on academics, the distinguishing feature is that children learn at their own pace. There are special Montessori materials called “Manipulative” that are self-corrective; this means that a child knows if they assembled a puzzle correctly, for example, based on the materials fitting together, not because someone showed the child how to do it. “In Montessori programs it’s really the teacher’s job to help the kids find their way into the materials, a lot of which look like puzzles that engage the child at this level. “Kids work at whatever level they are working at. You don’t organize the room according to a specific age.”

That focus on letting children learn at their own pace also affects how classrooms are arranged, with children with different ages all being in the same room. This allows the older children to serve as role models for the younger ones, and also exposes children to different ages. Children generally have the same teacher for those different ages, allowing close teacher-student relationships to develop. The mixed-age aspect also encourages older children to help the younger children, which helps build their self-esteem.