SUMMARY Forty‐eight Ss of Anglo‐Saxon parentage were randomly selected from Were Texas Public Schools. Four groups of 12 Ss each were constituted of third grade lower SES, sixth grade lower SES, third grade middle SES and sixth grade middle SES. Each group was exposed to an array of objects to be grouped. Grouping on a conceptual, non‐conceptual or associational justification was possible. A standardised testing and scoring procedure was followed. Results indicated that the school experience may serve to widen the cognitive strategy system of the lower SES child by addition of the conceptual mode.

Becoming a competent Montessori Elementary guide is a complex process, so we are developing the Montessori Coaching Tool Elementary (MCT-EL) rubric to describe teaching-practice expectations for self-reflection and formative feedback during the critical early period in a teacher’s development. The purpose of this article is to share results from a small-scale, online survey collecting both qualitative and quantitative feedback on the rubric from experienced Montessori Elementary teacher educators. The rubric’s content was based on Maria Montessori’s writings and welldocumented Montessori practices, which we translated to specific teacher behaviors and developmental progressions. We wanted to gauge the MCT-EL rubric’s usefulness and appropriateness from the perspective of experts who have significant depth of experience mentoring new teachers. The rubric was not developed to be used for performance evaluation, promotion, or retention but rather for early-career Montessori teachers’ self-reflection. It provides a framework for coaching conversations between the early-career Montessori teacher and a Montessori mentor. Results from the study identified overall support for use of the MCT-EL rubric with developing teachers, along with specific recommendations for revisions, additions, and deletions. Using a thorough review of the data, we developed a refined MCT-EL rubric, which is provided in Appendix B and is available for use by interested practitioners in the field.