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AMS, NCME Explore 'Strategic Alliance' NAMTA to Expand Adolescent Initiative Spady Wins National Magnet School Award Fee-Based Program Planned in California SF Opens First Public Montessori RECENT ARRIVALS AMS, NCME Explore 'Strategic Alliance'Leaders of the American Montessori Society and the National Center for Montessori Education have announced plans to explore a "strategic alliance." Plans to consider that alliance were announced at the annual conventions of both organizations in April. Task force recommendations regarding teacher education programs, school accreditation, public relations and legal issues are expected by the end of June. No formal date for action has been set, but discussions are expected at the November meetings of the Montessori Accreditation Council for Teacher Education in Florida. In a press release announcing the discussions, Martha Torrence, AMS board member, stated, "An alliance could result in a far more significant voice for Montessori education. By working together, our organizations will have a truly powerful presence within the educational landscape." NCME Board Vice Chair LaVonna Peterson added: "How AMS and NCME will ultimately define this alliance is part of what the task force will be investigating. There is a real feeling that it is time to see how a unity between our two organizations can make our respective efforts even more vibrant and robust." Participants do not rule out a merger, but emphasize that a number of less comprehensive arrangements could emerge. "The main thing," Peterson said in an interview, "is trying to bring unity to the Montessori community. We don't know exactly where this process might lead." Informal talks about cooperation date back a decade or more. NCME Executive Director Karen Lecy began more serious conversations with former AMS Executive Director Eileen Ast two years ago and they continued during the term of interim Executive Director Marie Dugan. Plans to move forward with formal discussions were developed at a meeting in New York in January, coinciding with Richard Ungerer's first days on the job as AMS's executive director. AMS includes about 1,000 schools and 63 teacher education centers and publishes Montessori Life magazine. NCME affiliates about 20 teacher education programs and publishes the Montessori Reporter. Both are not-for-profit corporations that grant teacher education credentials, accredit schools and provide professional development opportunities in the form of symposia and annual conferences. Both organizations have international membership, including teachers, heads of schools, school administrators, school trustees, parents, teacher education programs and schools. Their combined membership is more than 10,000 NAMTA to Expand Adolescent InitiativeA grant of nearly $1 million over eight years will help the North American Montessori Teachers Association and its executive director David Kahn further develop Montessori adolescent programs. NAMTA, which since 1996 has sponsored an annual adolescent colloquium and in 2004 spearheaded the creation of the Hershey Montessori Farm School, announced the grant recently on its web site. The focus of The NAMTA Center for Montessori Adolescent Studies (NCMAS), according to the NAMTA web site, "is to work with many schools in order to find a universal Montessori approach to working with the adolescent. Once a clarifying adolescent program model has been established, the central focus is the restructuring of third-plane studies to follow a universal syllabus or framework as suggested by Dr. Montessori." NCMAS opened in June 2004 and, according to the web site, "represents the culmination of NAMTA's 27 years of Montessori adolescent leadership. The work of the NCMAS is to establish program design and validity based directly on the educational syllabus or framework suggested by the writings of Maria Montessori found in the Appendices of From Childhood to Adolescence." "The NCMAS," according to the web site, "will develop a heritage base, working toward a consolidated, if not definitive, Montessori adolescent program for ages 12-18, derived from Montessori writings, AMI trainers, and AMI practitioners working collectively in relation to good adolescent experiments." According to Kahn, the Hershey Foundation, Mrs. Orcillia Oppenheimer and the Dekko Foundation have committed to funding the effort, named Project 2012. INFO: http://www.montessori-namta.org/NAMTA/conferences/AdolOrient.htm#role Spady Wins National Magnet School AwardS.D. Spady Elementary School in Delray Beach, FL, won the Eugene Uram Montessori Distinguished Magnet Schools of Merit award given by the Magnet Schools of America April 20. Spady was selected from a field of 36 contending schools. After questioning the use of extrinsic awards for year,s Principal Martha O'Hare found a bit of humor in the acclaim that came with the $2,500 prize. Several local newspaper featured the school, the superintendent recognized the staff and local politicians chimed in with congratulations. O'Hare said the prize will probably be use to replace some materials that have been with the school since it opened 16 years ago. Spady has been among the highest performing schools in the West Palm Beach district, using data-driven decision making and teacher collaboration to retain Montessori principals as the state has focused more on standardized test results. "We always start with Montessori lessons, look at the state standards and then make our plans," O'Hare said. The award recognizes magnet schools that show "commitment to high academic standards, curriculum innovation, successful desegregation efforts and the consistent delivery of quality services to all school stakeholders." Fee-Based Program Planned in CaliforniaThe San Mateo-Foster City School District in California has announced plans to create a fee-based half-day public Montessori program that would serve up to 20 children at a cost of $550 per month. The initiative will include a second, traditional preschool that will serve another 20 students. "We saw that there was tremendous need for these preschools," said Cheryl Shrewsbury, Child Development Program principal. "Currently, we only offer programs for low-income children, but we don't offer anything for other families." The curriculum at the preschools will follow the district's overall standards. Teachers in the preschools and the district's elementary schools will collaborate on curricula, making it easier for students to transition into kindergarten, Shrewsbury said. SF Opens First Public MontessoriSan Francisco opened its first public Montessori classroom in January at Dr. William Cobb Child Development Center. The 16-student preschool classroom was funded through a grant from the Miriam & Peter Haas Fund and is part of a 38-site preschool initiative in the district, according to Tara Ryan, of the district's development department. Other sites used High/Scope, Reggio Emilia and other formats. "We plan to do another Montessori classroom next year," Ryan said. She added it was too early to discuss whether the program could eventually include elementary classrooms. She said the composition of the classroom was typical of those served by the San Francisco district, with most children coming from working class families and qualifying for state financial support. "Things are going well," Ryan said. "We've had a really positive reaction from parents. There's been lots of excitement." RECENT ARRIVALSBOOKSHELFMontessori Insights for Parents of Young Children, by Aline D. Wolf, $6 Paperback, Parent-Child Press, PO Box 675, Hollidaysburg, PA 16648, 814 696-7512. One of the most honored and prolific commentators on Montessori education offers her insights. ABC NYC: A Book About Seeing New York City, by Joanne Dugan, $14.95, Abrams. G is for Grand Central (Station). Talented photographer Dugan, daughter of American Montessori Society stalwart Marie Dugan, has produced a delightful ABC book. MATERIALSVendors are invited to send information on new materials or other offerings. EduAidsRuth Moonesinghe, proprietor of EduAids and a high school mathematics instructor, has developed a new number line product. She writes: "The EduAids number line enables students to visualize and perform integer operations, solve linear equations, inequalities and absolute value equations. The 24-inch wooden crafted item can be used by an individual or small group. It includes a set of 60 question, answers and concept-instruction cards that are individually placed in the groove of the number line as the student performs the operation." Moonesinghe has a B.S in mathematics and has run math workshops for UCLA graduate school of education. INFO: 866-611-0036, eduaids.com Educational Sounds & ImagesNewest products: Lined Mat for Use with Large Cut-Out Moveable Alphabet. INFO: esii.cc. Graphing CurriculumMontessori Teacher Educator Erika Ohlhaver has developed a two-module graphing curriculum for Montessori elementary classrooms. The curriculum, marketed through Educational Training and Consulting, has separate modules for lower and upper elementary classrooms INFO: www.edutc.org |
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