Dr. Gary Borich, Professor of Educational Psychology at UT-Austin, spent two years studying schools in Austin and southern India before completing Vital Impressions:  The KPM Approach to Children.

In his report, Dr. Borich compared the KPM Approach with two popular progressive educational approaches, Waldorf and Montessori.  Dr. Borich wrote:

"While Montessori gives the child freedom to follow his own course, it adjusts the course when he strays from the norm.  KPM gives the child the freedom to pursue his own course, free from adult expectations, while slowly increasing levels of guidance and structure through the upper grades.  Montessori prepares the environment to elicit the behaviors and outcomes that the teacher wants to see.  The KPM environment provides opportunities for learning from which children can choose."

"The Waldorf approach employs regular classrooms, while KPM children alternate at will between the flowing space of the learning environment of the entire school and specially prepared classrooms devoted to rotating demonstrations, investigations, and illustrations that children may attend according to their interests.  For both the Waldorf and KPM approaches, the relationship between teacher and child is key.  But for the KPM Approach, this intimate familiarity is focused on valuing the child unconditionally so the child can explore and discover on his own, with the teacher as resource, and without fear of failure."

In this learning environment, the child gains self-confidence, and is free to develop in all facets.  As cognitive skills grow, the child also learns regard for the feelings of others, and how to make decisions and solve problems.   The teacher is trained to see and enter the child's world, and the teacher puts the child's needs and interests first.  The child trusts the teacher, listens and hears, and welcomes the teacher's involvement.  The children move freely, choosing activities according to their interests.  Students feel in control of their schooling.  Activities and games are encouraging, supportive, and noncompetitive.  Exams, homework, and formal classroom experiences are introduced gradually, as the student matures, and are fun and confidence building.  Assessment of the child is made in terms of the child's individual development.

 To read the full report click here.