California Montessori Project American River Campus

Great school.

My children has been attending CMP for four years now. My rating is averaged as follows:
Relative to classroom size, student engagement and teacher involvement in the class, the school is «Four Stars».
Relative to managing how the children interact and treat one another (bullying awareness, teaching respect for others, etc) the school is «Five Stars».
Relative to communication from administration, the school is «Two Stars». This is where a lot of improvement needs to be made; from Principal on down. The school is infamous for not listing minimum days on the web site school calendar, for sending take-​home info with the «due date» for project work left blank, for sending classroom newsletters mid-​week when they are written for a Friday distribution for having a vision but not necessarily articulating the vision well with others.
Relative to school wanting/​needing parent volunteers: «One Star». Unfortunately, this school does not make it easy on the working parents. They insist on parent volunteer hours but don’t necessarily make opportunities for volunteers to… volunteer! It takes effort, planning and vision to create different opportunities for parents to volunteers. Also, certain parents tend to monopolize the volunteer community and if you’re not in with them, you’re out. These are parents who won’t let their kids go on a field trip if they are not picked to chaperone — they can get real personal about this stuff! I think the administration needs to take more ownership and oversight of this program if they are going to make it a requirement for all parents.

My daughter has been attending a Montessori school since she was two years old. I found out later about CMP and applied for their kindergarten program. The curriculum is well rounded. My daughter will be starting fourth grade and will be challenged even more this year. The students learn everything that a public school
Curriculum would teach, but more. These children are driven to learn. Some children that haven’t started off in a Montessori school may have a difficult time adapting, but others will do fine. It’s nice to know what my child is learning in school and the parent involvement is amazing. There is a community within the school and I cannot imagine sending my child anywhere else.
My drawbacks are the size of the multi-​purpose room and communication from staff. Activies are held in the cafeteria and I wish it was larger. Every year there are changes in staff and other things. I wish the front office communicated better with the parents instead of surprises when coming back from the summer break. These issues are not enough for me to send my child to the elementary school around the corner.
This is a great school in the Citrus Heights area. My second choice would be Cambridge Elementary. I would not send my child to any other elementary schools in the area for many reasons. Schedule a tour of each school and start there.

This is a new year of school for us! The teachers (Mr. Chans & Ms. Diana) we have this year are amazing in their field.
They are on time everyday, smiles on faces, passion for the day & attentive to the constant needs of the children. They are true Montessori instructors.
I am most impressed this year with the communication flowing from the admin. & teachers.
Very thankful that my children will be staying here until 8^th grade after seeing our alternative of Carneige Middle school.