Community Montessori School

My children are both thriving at Community Montessori, socially and academically. One is in the Primary program and one is in Elementary. Both levels are beautifully equipped with Montessori materials. I am impressed with how the staff stays committed to their Montessori principles and methods within a public school setting. (This website has it listed as a charter school, which is an error. It is a focus school within the Boulder Valley School District.)
—Submitted by a parent

I appreciate everything the teachers and staff do everyday to give my child the best learning environment possible. I am continually amazed at the growth and development I see.
—Submitted by a parent

Awesome, it is a unique public Montessori experience. There are only 250 in the USA. Our community doesn't realize how lucky we are.
—Submitted by a parent

I love Community Montessori. The staff is very devoted and rise to the task of aligning authentic Montessori principles with the BVSD mandated rules and standards. If there is any straying from Montessori methods, blame the Colorado Dept. of Ed. not CM. Anyone, my boys are thriving and have surpassed most of their peers from other schools in writing and math. Of more importance is their development as independent and curious learners. I have no complaints and feel fortunate my kids can go to this school.
—Submitted by a parent

This school could be a model for Montessori in the public school system, but CM suffers from inconsistent and inexperienced Montessori teachers in the Lower El, a weak principal, and no leadership or interest in excellence. The primary program is strong, but once you get into 1st grade, your experience will be vary wildly depending on which teacher you get. There is weak alignment with BVSD standards and no partnership with parents to execute a thoughtful and challenging Montessori curriculum. CM is too political and parents are discouraged from asking questions about what is going on in the classrooms. Very disappointing; the school needs to be heavily monitored by the Administration.
—Submitted by a parent

If you are looking for Montessori, the preschool is, but the elementary is not. You can't cherrypick Montessori materials and methods and structuring of the day for say 50% or less of what you are doing. An awful lot of class time was spent on worksheets, but the Montessori part was the work was not checked. That only works with self discovery Montessori materials. Many materials in the classroom were makeshift, horrible quality in terms of tactile, motor, for instance, adding machine tape which was slick and curled and hard for kids to keep flat and write on--for early elem years. The classrooms at the Elem. level are also much too overcrowded (30) to have a part time aide who is not Montessori trained. Montessori classes do usu. have 30 kids but with a full time fully trained Montessori aide to facilitate. Almost all other district schools have smaller class sizes, so this is a real downside esp. when the room isn't really smoothly self functioning like a real Montessori room because of all the above factors. Teacher Montessori training varies widely, too, as is the case at all Montessori schools. Front office is exceptionally well run and warm. Parent involvement is good.
—Submitted by a parent

I absoluetely love this school. My two children have attended CM for the last two years and have developed as independent thinkers and learners, as well as caring communty members. They have achieved mastery of math and the mechanics of writing beyond their grade levels, and have developed a keen interest in the larger world. The school is quite academic and has high behavioral expectations. That being said, the teachers and leadership staff foster a climate of caring in the school, and every child is acknowleged individually and as an important member of the school community. I would recommend this school for parents that are seeking a structured learning environmen,t where their child's highest potential will be tapped. The skills developed at CM will readily translate into such life skills as problem solving, deep thinking, and independent effort. The school also celebrates diversity, and has a student body that represents a wide range of cultures and economic levels.
—Submitted by a parent

I have two children at Community Montessori in primary and lower elementary. Their progress has exceeded my expectations. I am very happy with the teachers, staff, and education they are receiving at CM. If you have a child that does not fit the traditional school model, CM would be a great place for them. At school, my children are allowed to develop and explore their interests and also develop deeper knowledge in areas that they choose. I am continually amazed by the works they are returning with in our weekly communication folders. I am also impressed with the primary staff making phone calls home to check in to see how my child was acclimating to being a new student. I have no concerns about their preparation for middle school, as most BVSD middle schools will be taking in students from a wide range of backgrounds from core knowledge schools to non-traditional. Their skills from CM will allow them to adapt with ease. I truly believe the Montessori curriculum allows my children to develop and learn in ways that is not stressful or academically overbearing. They have a strong love for learning and I know CM is to thank for that.
—Submitted by a parent

this is called "dumbing down education" These kids are not coming out prepared for any other kind of educational experience. This has nothing to do with Montessori curriculum- it has to do with the staff and overall expectations.
—Submitted by a parent

I love this school and so do my children! I have never seen a more dedicated, caring and open staff of teachers, para-educators, support staff and administrators. They truly believe each child is full of greatness! We are so lucky to be part of this wonderful school!
—Submitted by a parent

My son is an advanced 3 year old and this school gives him great exposure to many skills he normally wouldn't get until kindergarten. He is already writing letters, sounding out words and reading. As a result he is very engaged and happy at school. And the full half hour of playground time includes many extras such as tricycles and sledding. Several reviews mention this is not a 'true Montessori' but without any specifics. Everything I see and hear in the classroom is in accordance with Montessori's principles. Children are empowered to do things for themselves and are carefully shown how. Order in the classroom makes the children feel secure. Focus on the child s relationship with nature is emphasized. And the weekly written update from his Montessori-certified teacher provides the specific works my son engaged in. All these works are true Montessori. My son is positively thriving at Community Montessori.
—Submitted by a parent

This school is great especially I love his class teacher. My kid is 3, and in preschool level. I am so happy to see significant improvement in his concentration level after the learning process through montessori method in his class. I understand that concentration is very important in his later learning process. Besides, he learns more good discilpline from his school learning system: Behave himself well in many basic manners; offer himself to help in some simple housekeeping work; caring and sharing with his peers.
—Submitted by a parent

This school is just excellent. We are immigrant, my daughter was born in the US, but English was her second language. She started to the CMS at age 3. First she learned English fluently and her teacher says that her English now much advanced than native English speakers based on grammer, richness of vocabulary and etc. She learned read and wright when she was 4, even we did not teach at home anything. It will be long list to write down everything here, but she is so happy to be there, as a result we are happy too. She is florishing every single day and I can see it everyday. She is the only child and she learned to share, respect, frinedship, properly communicate and be polite to herself, her friends, her environment, school personal, and her teachers. I strongly recommend to everybody.
—Submitted by a parent

My son attended CM pre-k last year, and it was a very negative experience. CM is touted as the only literacy-based preschool in Boulder County, as opposed to play-based preschools . Does that mean there should be no play? No socialization, even, from 7:50a.m. 10:00a.m. when an incredibly reserved circle time begins? I assume it depends on the teacher, but we found it pretentious, and though they may discuss diversity alot, children must fit a mold. My son is a boy, not a mini-man. We pulled him out and he is flourishing at his current pre-k, and he finally feels safe at school.
—Submitted by a parent

Not a true Montessori environment. Our son attended for a full year half-day of preschool - we really tried to make it work because CM was so highly recommended. Everything was very strict. If you don't do things a certain way - it's wrong. I think if we could have switched to a different teacher, CM would have worked, but that was not allowed. We were so excited when we got in through BVSD open enrollment, but soon found that because we were low-income our family required more paperwork, goal-setting and conferences (which the teacher clearly didn't enjoy). There was not very much parent-teacher communication about what was going on in the classroom. Students were given about 10 mins for recess, right before coming home. Children deserve to have fun - the next year we chose Sunflower Preschool (private), cut household expenses (cable, phone) to pay tuition.
—Submitted by a parent

My daughter has been at Community Montessori for 4 years now. The school is incredible and she loves it. It is a full-fledged Montessori school (all teachers are fully Montessori certified) and the families have worked hard to raise the extra $25,000 per classroom to get Montessori materials on a public education budget. My daughter has thrived in this multi-age classrooms and self-directed work of Montessori. THe teachers are very innovative in motivating and personalizing work for our daughter. CM is a close knit school. Almost immediately, the teachers, principal and office staff knew our daughter and us by name. The school celebrates diversity and holds 25% of slots for low-income students. Unlike other open enrolled schools, this is a very diverse environment. But, it is very hard to get into unless you enroll as a 3 year old.
—Submitted by a parent

My son stayed at CMS just for 2 months, last fall. He was 3 years old and was in a private Montessori school the whole year before. He didn't like CMS and was not wanting to go to school since October started. We had some problems with the teacher too, and, as my son didn't like the school and we were unhappy there too, he went back to the private school. They have too many kids per teacher and the helpers are not so good. The Principal didn't care about losing a kid and didn't try to convince us to stay.
—Submitted by a parent

This school claims to be montessori, but many of their practices are not. The teacher my family had experience with was very unfriendly, and discriminating. The principal never took any proper actions to solve any of the problems that happened at the school. My child has been in montessori for 7 years and In my experience this was the absolute worst school I have ever dealt with.
—Submitted by a parent