Distance Education: MACTE, Seldin Push Initiatives

Montessori school leaders have long cried out for more accessible teacher education. Help may be on the way.

The Montessori community’s accrediting body is studying an expansion into distance learning and Tim Seldin, the Montessori community’s most prominent entrepreneur, has announced he will begin a distance learning early childhood teacher education program this summer.

There have long been distance learning opportunities.

The Montessori St. Nicholas program operated internationally for decades on that basis. More recently, Dale Gausman of the North American Montessori Center in Surrey, BC, Canada, has developed and marketed courses. Sharlet McClurkin of Montessori Teacher Preparation of Washington has offered a course that relies heavily on videos. Seattle-based United Montessori Association also offers a course.

But none of those courses were built around advanced internet technology or Montessori Accreditation Council for Teacher Education (MACTE) standards.

MACTE

According to a survey on the MACTE website, “MACTE is moving in the direction of expanding its scope of accrediting alternative delivery/distance learning program components.”

MACTE does not accredit purely distance learning courses, but does accredit several courses that include online elements. It has invited programs to participate in a vaguely defined “two-year data collection study” on the topic.

Accredited programs that offer an online component have been invited to sign up by April 30 and await specific information on the study until after the May 2007 MACTE Commission meeting.

According to Gretchen Warner, MACTE’s executive director, the commission accredits several programs with distance learning components—Chaminade University of Honolulu, Canadian Montessori Academy, Mid-America Montessori Teacher Training Center (Nebraska), Princeton Center for Teacher Education (New Jersey) and Vancouver Training Institute.

“I receive requests nearly every day,” Warner wrote in an e-mail, “from individuals who want to obtain their certification in Montessori teacher education but are unable to enroll in programs offered entirely on-site because of time, distance or personal constraints. The fact that MACTE is looking at the possibility of accrediting true ‘hybrid’ (part on-site, part online) programs is a major step in the direction of making certification available to many more qualified Montessori teachers.”

CGMS

A group led by Seldin, who operates the Montessori Foundation and the International Montessori Council, introduced a new entity, the Center for Guided Montessori Studies (CGMS), which announced it will offer a web-and-residency based teacher education program beginning in June.

A Power Point representation of the project outlines the initiative with some urgency. Citing the teacher shortage, poor teacher preparation and the reluctance of good candidates to leaving home, the presentation reads:

“This is a pivotal moment. No current proposal has been see forth that would address the problems of teacher shortages and quality. If we do nothing, we expect providers of low quality distance education to offer an Internet solution.”

Seldin has been joined in CGMS, a for-profit entity, by his son Marc and Montessori consultant Jonathan Wolff. Kitty Bravo, who is helping develop the course, described it in the spring edition of Seldin’s Tomorrow’s Child magazine.

She acknowledged concerns, writing that the course is “likely to be greeted by many Montessorians with … curiosity and skepticism.”

According to Bravo’s article and an introduction in the magazine by Tim Seldin, CGMS will offer two models. One would be entirely through distance learning, beginning next fall. The second option, involving two residency sessions, would begin in June.

Bravo wrote about the residency-based model, noting that the intent is to meet MACTE standards of contact hours along with a “year-long course of study through high tech distance learning, requiring 10 to 15 hours of student work per week.”

“Ideally,” the article continues, “students will begin … with an initial three or four-week summer residency experience at a teacher education center.” She also outlined a residency session the following summer.

The plan calls for “cohort groups” linked by technology as students complete year-long internships.

According to the CGMS presentation, technology could include recorded presentations, videos of lessons, online discussions, Montessori albums, a “digital resource library” and regular contact with course leaders.

Together?

It is not clear whether the CGMS could would seek or be eligible for MACTE accreditation. In November Bravo discussed the course with MACTE’s Warner.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Public School Montessorian reported in its winter edition that there had been no discussion between Seldin’s group and MACTE. Although no formal presentation had been made to the commission, we were wrong in not reporting the discussion between Bravo and Warner.

The CGMS course would apparently begin by seeking recognition from the IMC—Seldin wrote in Tomorrow’s Child the IMC is developing the course. It would be reviewed by an IMC Teacher Education committee. The courses, according to Seldin’s article, “will be aligned with the accreditation guidelines established by MACTE.”

Although Warner declined to discuss Seldin’s application specifically, she wrote in an e-mail, “MACTE expects to receive an application from a new teacher education program that offers part of its curriculum via distance education sometime this spring. Like the currently accredited programs, MACTE will require new applicants to meet or exceed required academic hours and offer additional study via distance learning.”