Assessment in the Montessori school is done through a qualitative analysis of children's performance, not by classifying and comparing students by grading. Montessori assessment includes: daily observations, daily progress sheets, periodic report describing the child's overall development (social, academic, emotional), strengths and weaknesses and ways to improve the weaknesses, portfolio of works and projects of the child, weekly or bi-weekly meetings with the children, in which they record together with the teacher the activities and skills acquired during that period.
The Montessori teacher carefully makes notes to ensure that students are shown the right presentations when they are ready to receive them. Daily observations and detailed notes help the teacher to plan the individual lessons that follow, for each child.
The Montessori teacher makes notes and observations for the lessons presented, the work done by the child after the presentation of the lesson, the child's progress, the daily diary kept by the child, difficulties encountered by certain children and how these difficulties were overcome, individual meetings with each child (once a week or every two weeks).
The assessment, closely related to children's observation, is an ongoing process in a Montessori class. It is one of the essential features of the method. Observing a child's repeated behavior is a way to record the changes that occur in his development.
The teaching methods used in Montessori and the learning methods provide opportunities for formative assessment. Here are some examples: