A school is an organized educational establishment designed to offer learning zones and learning environments especially for the education of students. Generally, most countries have structured systems of formal schooling, which can be mandatory or not. In such systems, students go through a particular number of schools before they gain entry into a secondary school or tertiary school. The structure of education varies among countries; however the basic educational goals remain the same. For instance, in the United States, all children are expected to enter school by the age of Starting School and are required to participate in the Regular Education Program until the age of eighteenth. In most states, the child must also pass at least one of the general education courses offered at the primary and secondary schools.

In terms of the type of school system, the United States is unique among most developed countries because it has differentiated between the early schools and the late schools. In the United States, the earliest schools, also called the Preschools were mainly established to prepare a certain segment of the population for higher education. They offered the first year of primary education to children from families who could not afford to send their children to school during the academic year. These schools provided primary and secondary education to the same children each year and remained responsible for organizing the elementary school system.

As the children from different families continued to attend different Montessori schools, the concept of a differentiated system was developed. The main concept behind this idea is that each child has a specific developmental need and in a Montessori educational program each child gets a chance to fulfill that need. Therefore, primary schooling is not merely about imparting knowledge to the child; rather it is a time for each child to grow and develop so that he or she becomes capable of handling various situations. Thus, there is the need to differentiate between Montessori schools by offering various options for students. Some may find a private special education school acceptable; however, others may find the same impossible. The main idea is to make the selection based on individual needs and not on the opinion of other people.