What does assessment look like in Montessori?
June 24, 2024
What does assessment look like in Montessori?

So often we get asked how Montessori guides assess children’s work and progress without relying on quizzes, tests, or grades. If we remember that Montessori is about learning for life, we can flip this question and ask, how does assessment work when we move outside school walls and step into the world of work? In our work environments, do we have tests and grades? If so, how do they help us grow and improve in what we do?


Interestingly, a 1999 document “An Employer's Guide to Good Practices” from the U.S. Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration, has a whole chapter on issues and concerns with assessment, including the “limitations of tests in providing a consistently accurate and complete picture of an individual's related qualifications and potential.”


Before we dive into how we can get an accurate and complete picture of skills and potential, let’s first think about traditional forms of assessment and how they are designed to monitor students’ learning. 


What do tests, quizzes, and grades really measure?


Rather than a measure of how much students have learned, grades tend to measure how good students are at getting good grades. If we want students to have curiosity and intrinsic motivation to understand, it’s important to first recognize that grades inhibit that process. Rather than concentrating on learning, students’ focus becomes on doing what it takes to get a good grade. 


When students are preparing to take a test or quiz, they are trying to anticipate what will be asked. In the process, they are trying to fulfill external expectations. Often after the exam is over, students lose interest in the content because their relationship with the material is about learning certain information to achieve a grade or pass the exam.


It’s important to thus recognize that grades don’t measure students' effort, creativity, grit, compassion, sense of place in society, character, capability, or even intelligence. 


Grades do measure students’ ability to memorize and anticipate what will be asked. With that in mind, students do need to show some knowledge and skill when taking an assessment. While we hope that grades measure how well students have mastered central concepts, the very act of administering a test and assigning a grade means that the outcome is based more on how well students take the test rather than how much they actually learn. 


What if we designed assessments that provide a more accurate reflection thinking and problem-solving?


So it’s worth thinking about what we actually want to assess. Do we want students to just acquire new content knowledge or be able to apply this knowledge to new or existing situations? Do we want to see if students can produce something that demonstrates their understanding of the content or skill? Do we want to assess their writing ability, speaking skills, creativity, collaborative process, or organization?

If we focus on authentic assessments, we are asking that students apply what they have learned to a new situation, or perhaps we are requiring them to use some judgment to think about what information and skills are relevant and how they can be used. Similar to how adults are “tested” in work or personal life, often authentic assessments are tied to a real-world or complex situation. 


In addition, authentic assessments offer students the opportunity to rehearse, practice, consult resources, and get feedback so as to refine what they are doing. Students can be innovative in this process and as a result, are often extremely self-motivated. 


In Montessori classrooms, authentic assessments may take the form of:


  • Role-playing or performing a historical event and exploring what might have happened if things during that time period had changed.
  • Drawing a diagram of how a process works and showing what happens if a variable changes.
  • Creating an advertisement or brochure to highlight qualities or review something learned.
  • Writing a diary entry for a real or fictional character.
  • Composing a poem, play, newspaper article, or persuasive letter to share important concepts. 
  • Writing a letter to a friend explaining a problem or technique. 


Montessori students love demonstrating what they have learned in creative, authentic ways. They present to their peers. They grapple with concepts. They even sometimes teach younger classmates. 


But how do teachers keep track of this learning?


In addition to authentic assessment, Montessori guides are also using their extensive training in observation techniques to understand students’ learning process, steps toward mastery, and needs for support. This is called formative assessment.


Formative assessment is a continuous, low-stakes, responsive process. This means that students are getting feedback and information while their learning is taking place. Through observation, the teacher is gauging students’ progress, determining what has been effective, and identifying what could be improved in the learning process. There are no grades involved, however the goal is mastery of the skill or content. 


In a Montessori classroom, formative assessment can look like:


  • The guide observing students during a lesson presentation and during the students’ independent follow-up work. 
  • Student reflection in work journals. 
  • One-on-one conferencing with the guide and the student.
  • Discussion and review of content or skills. 
  • Students informally or formally presenting their work. 
  • Student self-evaluations.
  • Students correcting their mistakes and reflecting on what they learned from those mistakes.


Formative assessment doesn’t have to be teacher-driven. In fact, in Montessori classrooms, students are often getting feedback and information about their learning from the classroom materials, many of which are designed to help children learn from their mistakes as they check their own work. 


Formative assessment is a collaborative process that happens “with” students rather than “to” students. Montessori students and guides partner to get to know their strengths, interests, and needs. Because this is an ongoing, collaborative process, the guide and students can make small, immediate, impactful decisions to support well-being, learning-goal achievement, and self-efficacy. 


What are the results?


When students experience authentic and formative assessment as integral aspects of their education, they become self-directed learners because they are active agents in their learning process. This translates to agency in other environments and throughout life. 


In Montessori classrooms, we focus on getting an accurate and complete picture of children’s skills and potential. Schedule a tour to learn more about what this looks like in action!


Teacher reading with young children, modeling attentive adult presence in early learning.

The Power of Presence: How Adults Shape Learning in the Early Years

March 16, 2026
A child’s early learning is shaped by the presence of the adults around them. This post explores how mindful movement, language, and boundaries support security and independence in the early years.
Child using color-coded word cards to explore pronouns in a Montessori language activity.

Language Revealed: The Montessori Journey to Understanding Pronouns

March 9, 2026
When children begin working with pronouns in Montessori, they are not learning something entirely new. Instead, they are bringing to consciousness language they already use every day. Pronoun work builds slowly and intentionally. It is not about mastering grammar rules, but about understanding how language functions and how meaning is carried when words stand in for one another. Beginning With Experience, Not Explanation Montessori pronoun work begins with movement and spoken language, not written grammar. We start with little oral games to highlight how a pronoun functions, sometimes eliminating the pronoun (“Josie and John and Jack and Josiah are walking around the table.”) and other times emphasizing the pronoun (“They are walking around the table.”). The children love acting out the phrases, sometimes chanting, moving, watching one another, and laughing. Through these physical experiences, they begin to notice that we don’t always use names when we speak. Certain words take the place of a noun, and the meaning is still clear. At this stage, we don’t offer the term pronoun because we want children to simply experience its function. From Movement to Sentences Once children are ready for more structured language work, we introduce them to the Pronoun Grammar Box so they can build and rebuild sentences using color-coded cards for each part of speech. From one sentence to the next, only a few words change as nouns get replaced by pronouns. By comparing sentences, children discover that although the word changes, the sentence still makes sense. This comparison is essential. Rather than being told what a pronoun is, children see what it does. We then invite children to add grammar symbols to the sentence (noun, article, adjective, verb, preposition, adverb) until we finally draw attention to the remaining word: “This word is used in place of a noun.” Only then do we introduce the pronoun symbol: a purple isosceles triangle, the height of the noun symbol. Montessori Lore: The Pronoun’s Story There’s a beloved story about the pronoun symbol. Long ago, the pronoun was shorter and a different color. Wanting to be as important as the noun, it stretched itself taller and taller to reach the same height. As it stretched, its base became smaller and it turned purple from the effort of standing in the noun’s place. It’s a poetic reminder of what children discover through their work: a pronoun depends on the noun, borrowing its meaning while standing in for it. Why Pronouns Come Later Pronouns are more abstract than other parts of speech. To understand a pronoun, children must already have a strong, concrete understanding of the noun. For this reason, pronouns (along with interjections) are typically introduced later than other grammar symbols, often in the elementary years. Even then, one lesson is not enough. In Montessori, the real learning happens after the presentation, when we step back and children work independently with the material. The guide’s role is to show how to use the material, not to explain grammar in detail. Understanding emerges through repeated use. Deepening Understanding Through Play and Exploration As children grow more confident, the work expands to include: Transposition games, where pronouns are removed or replaced to explore how meaning changes. Command cards, which physically isolate pronouns through action. Personal pronoun charts, introducing first, second, and third person (singular and plural) through storytelling. The Verb Family, where children explore the close relationship between the verb, adverb, and pronoun. Children discover that pronouns often work closely with verbs, helping to carry action and meaning through a sentence. Subtleties Come Later At first, Montessori avoids getting caught in fine distinctions. Over time, children may explore nuances such as the difference between possessive pronouns (the book is mine) and possessive adjectives (my book). These discussions often happen later, sometimes with the support of grammar references, once children have a solid foundation. Language Revealed, Not Taught Through this carefully layered progression of movement, sentence work, symbols, and exploration, children develop a deep understanding of how words function differently in sentences. Montessori grammar invites children to discover how language works at their own pace through hands-on exploration. We don’t rush this process. So by the time children are ready to name the pronoun, it’s not a new idea. It’s something they already know. We invite you to visit our classrooms in Delran, New Jersey to see firsthand the children’s joy of learning!