In the majority of today’s traditional schools, the teaching is mainly done via the teacher instructing the children in educational concepts as a large group. In a Montessori school the children learn concepts as they work independently with the many self-correcting materials in the classroom, under the guidance of their teacher. The learning environment is non-graded and non-competitive, allowing children to progress at their own pace. The children are provided with the opportunity to reach their full potential both emotionally, physically, socially and academically.

Children who have had a sound Montessori education and have reaped the benefits of completing the full three or four year Casa Program and/or three year elementary program are generally, self-motivated, self-disciplined, confident and have developed a love of learning. Thus, they are able to easily adjust to many new situations, including traditional school systems. It is strongly advised that should a transition be made to the traditional school system that it is done upon completion of the Lower Elementary Program or the Casa Program at a minimum.

Montessori	Traditional
Teacher is unassuming	Teacher directs
Child can choose where to sit, is free to talk to others without being disruptive	Assigned seating, talking to others is not allowed
Concepts are learned using concrete materials which lead to abstract work	Concepts are memorized
Children plan their own agenda for the day	Children work on specific work at specific times
Group work encourages children to teach and learn from one another	Teaching is done by teacher only
Predominantly small group	Mainly whole class instruction
Child explores topics of interest outside the main lesson	Child may only work within limits of the curriculum and teacher assigned work
Mixed age groups	Same age grouping in class