Standing Strong Against the Push Toward Standardization & Montessori’s Alternative Paradigm

Andrew Faulstich joins the Voices in Montessori podcast to discuss resisting the push toward standardization in our current educational system. Andrew discusses how this trend emerged in the 1980’s and continues today. He contends that the question, “What works?” is not the right question to be asking. Andrew argues that standardized education is aimed at an imaginary child “in the middle,” which means it isn’t actually meeting the needs of anyone. And instead of asking, “Are students proficient at x, y, and z skills?”, he wonders why we aren’t instead asking, “What do we want for our students? What kind of society are we creating?”

So what is the alternative? Andrew makes a case for an alternative model (such as Montessori) that honors what students can do with real-world work. Andrew describes humanistic methods of assessment, such as student self-assessments and goal setting, student-led conferences, and portfolio-based evaluations. The focus of these methods, rather than a numeric score, is actually preparing students for life. In light of the current trends of anxiety and depression in teens, is it not our moral responsibility to better serve the needs of our students? Join us for this fascinating discussion!