Field Notes
Entrepreneurs: Seldin Groups Offer Course, ‘Recognition’
Collaboration: Finances Threaten Elementary Course
University-Initiated: Chaminade Courses Winning Praise
Online Teacher Preparation: A Status Report on Three Strategies
To view complete articles on online teacher preparation, please click here or on link above.
NAEYC Will Honor AMS Credentials
The largest group accrediting early childhood education in the United States is working more closely with Montessori programs.
The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) agreed this summer to accept American Montessori Society teaching certification as adequate teacher preparation in early childhood programs seeking accreditation.
NAEYC leaders also agreed to participate with Montessorians and leaders of the PreK Now organization, a national group advocating for universal preK programming, for two discussion sessions at the annual NAEYC gathering Nov. 8 in Chicago.
The cooperation is largely the result of efforts of Anna Perry, AMS’s liaison to PreK Now and director of MECA-Seton, a Chicago-based AMS Montessori school and teacher education center.
The teacher credential decision affects only AMS credentials but may open the door to others.
“We hope that as more Montessori programs understand that the AMS credential may be counted as meeting the equivalency of a CDA (Child Development Associate) credential, they will be encouraged to pursue NAEYC Accreditation,” Barbara A. Willer, deputy executive director of NAEYC, wrote in an e-mail. “We are also open to recognizing similar credentials that can be documented to earn 12 or more credits in early childhood education at an accredited institution of higher education.”
The AMS early childhood credential, she wrote “requires individuals to complete coursework that has been awarded 12 credits or more by accredited universities and colleges. Therefore, the NAEYC Academy will consider the AMS teaching credential as equivalent to 12 college credits and can be counted as meeting the equivalency to a CDA credential.”
INFO on NAEYC: Barbara A. Willer, bwil...@naeyc.org
INFO on Chicago meetings: Anna Perry, App1m...@aol.com
Washington Post Runs A First-Person Report
Emily Bazelon, a writer for Slate.com, got a bit of attention with a May 20 article in the Washington Post on her son’s Montessori school.
“In some ways, Montessori education remains a cult,” she wrote. “Those outside the fold (and lots of families inside it) have little idea about what exactly it is. The fog of magic and romance obscures the key to a Montessori classroom: that it’s all about structure and framework and purpose. Maria Montessori may have called the child ‘an amorphous, splendid being in search of his own proper form,’ but her schools now hinge on a different canny insight of hers: Those splendid little beings crave order.”
She described activity in her 4-year-old son’s school that “underscores the crux of the Montessori method: It is structured, sometimes rigidly so. It’s about the appeal of precision.”
She added, “The Montessori culture smacks faintly of indoctrination. But maybe in the end it’s that intensity—as well as Maria Montessori’s basic wisdom that kids can teach themselves if they’re operating within a sturdy framework—that accounts for the continuing appeal of her schools.”
INFO:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/18/AR2007051801703.html
Montessori Initiative Revamping Focus
The Montessori Initiative and its highest-profile product, M: The Magazine for Montessori Families, are retooling.
The magazine will operate under new leadership and the Initiative seems to be focusing more on building visibility, particularly through the United Nations.
After missing its spring issue and falling behind in its web presence, the magazine was expected to be distributed in September under new leadership.
Michael Jacobson, who has been the Initiative’s and magazine’s prime promoter, said that Kirk Dooley, a former Texas community newspaper publisher, has taken over responsibility for editorial and publishing functions.
Founding editor Jack Brady is no longer with the publication. Jacobson said Judy Cunningham and Catherine McTamaney will serve as “Montessori content editors.”
“The magazine is one seed among many,” Jacobson said. “It reaches the believer, the parent whose child is in Montessori school. We have a need to reach parents whose child is not in Montessori school. Our mandate is to educate the Montessori community and the community at large.”
A major piece of the effort, he said, will be the Initiative’s “lead sponsorship” of next June’s United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) awards ceremony, which will be televised worldwide. (www.un.org/millenniumgoals)
He indicated the Initiative’s work with the United Nations on the MDGs and Model UN provides an avenue to “associate Montessori education with something parents say is obviously important.”
He said Cunningham will serve on the panel selecting the education category winners in the MDG competition. The Initiative, he added, will make available through the UN two downloadable curriculum packages on the MDGs—one for elementary and the other for upper elementary and high school.
He said less emphasis will go toward some early Initiative efforts to recruit students for Montessori schools, to promote school-identified credit cards and a precious-stone fund-raiser. Those initiatives, he said, required more entrepreneurial effort than most schools could muster.
Other promotions continue, including a buying co-op relationship with Staples office supply stores and Hewlett Packard, he said.
Roberfroid, Kohn Set for Canadian Event
Andre Roberfroid and Alfie Kohn are scheduled to headline a Canadian National Centenary conference at the Fairmont Chateau Laurier in Ottawa, Ontario Canada, Nov. 9-11.
Author Kohn will speak on Friday, Nov. 9. Roberfroid, the president of Association Montessori Internationale, is scheduled to give the keynote address the next day.
INFO: www.montessoriconference.ca.
Montessori Resources Go to IL Libraries
The Association of Illinois Montessori Schools (AIMS) has donated materials on Montessori education to 101 college libraries in the state.
The donation, worth about $10,000, includes:
• “Peace, The Essence of Montessori Education,” a DVD produced by the Peace Committee of The American Montessori Society
• Montessori: The Science Behind the Genius by Angeline Lillard
• The Secret of Childhood by Maria Montessori
The AIMS College Library Project is headed by Carolyn Kambich, executive director of the Deerfield Montessori Schools. Kambich said she hopes to improve the range and quality of resource materials about Montessori education in the state’s community college, undergraduate and graduate libraries.
AMS Opts for More October Exhibitors
Faced with an unexpectedly large demand for exhibitor space—and some angry rejected vendors—for its Oct. 12-14 conference in Irvine, CA, the American Montessori Society revised an initial plan and has limited the space any one exhibitor can purchase.
The conference is be the first to truly incorporate AMS conference approaches with those of the National Center for Montessori Education, with which it merged recently.
“The size of the exhibition space in Irvine was smaller than that in venues we’re accustomed to,” according to Marcy Krever, AMS’s director of Communication and Marketing. “ Not wanting to disappoint exhibitors by turning them away, we opted for having more exhibitors but providing each one table only.”
She said that although it limits the space some of the larger companies traditionally have occupied, it assures space for long-time NCME exhibitors and smaller companies.
“We deeply regret any disappointment to exhibitors whose number of tables needed to be reduced by the new arrangement, and we are analyzing options for future conferences,” she wrote in an e-mail. “This is our first fall conference that comes as a result of our integration with NCME. It is our intent to be as responsive as possible to what we perceive as the needs of our participants, and we hope that they will be understanding about decisions as we navigate some new waters.”
TIES Offers 3-Week Online Conference
By Phil Gang and Marsha Morgan
Montessorians from around the world will be gathering for the first ever online Montessori conference Oct. 22 through Nov. 11. This event, which we organized, will bring together presenters and participants to explore the implementation of Dr. Montessori’s vision.
It is quite clear to most long time Montessori practitioners that the direction of Montessori’s insights was not limited to the transfer of knowledge through the sequential presentation of didactic materials. The published works of her later years, Education for a New World (1946), To Educate the Human Potential (1948), The Absorbent Mind (1949) and The Formation of Man (1950) point to the construction of a new culture, a new society—even a new human—that would be liberated from age old prejudices and be able to create a “higher and more peaceful civilization.”
This eConference, titled “Evolving the Radical Nature of Montessori Education,” invites Montessorians and other educators from around the world to examine Montessori teaching and learning by exploring the question: “In what ways is Montessori education contributing to the foundation and evolution of a new humanity?”
Presenters from around the world will engage participants through in-depth dialogues where the boundary between teacher-learner and learner-teacher rests on the capacity for each of us to be fully present. Participating countries include: India, Norway, Japan, Latvia, Sweden, Mexico, Brazil, USA, New Zealand and Australia.
Although other conferences with similar goals have been convened, attendance has been limited to those who could afford to travel to a conference and spend time at a physical setting. People who live far away from main centers of Montessori—many from countries where there is not an equitable relationship between their local currency and the US dollar—have been unable to attend these events because of time, distance and cost.
The information and experience of this conference is critical at the present moment of global history. No other format can bring people from all over the world together to share, dialogue and discover the transformative potential of Dr. Montessori’s vision.”
For more information visit our website: www.earthties.org
Phil Gang and Marsha Morgan are directors of the M.Ed. in Montessori Integrative Learning at Endicott College.
Seattle Celebration
About 100 people attended the Pacific Northwest Montessori Centennial Banquet in Seattle in May.
Madeline Justus was honored by the Pacific Northwest Montessori Association (PNMA) for her 50-plus years of service. She opened the first Montessori school in Seattle in 1951 and was one of the founders of both PNMA.
Seattle Public Schools Career and Technical Education Department honored long-time high school family and consumer sciences teacher, Eileen Knobbs, as well as Gail Longo for her work in the Maria Montessori Language and Cultural Center at Ballard High School.
NY Director Sinha Appeals Conviction
Alleging prosecutorial misconduct, a former New York Montessori school head in August appealed her conviction for having sexual relations with at least one student.
Lina Sinha has appealed her March conviction, arguing that the prosecutors had offered a witness leniency for a drug conviction probation violation in exchange for testimony.
Sinha was sentenced to up to 14 years in prison.
Texas Public Montessori Conference Nov. 9-11
Lake Waco Montessori School will host the second annual Public Montessori Educator’s Conference Nov. 9-11 in Waco, TX.
According to Robin McDurham, assistant principal at Lake Waco, topics will include:
• Curriculum alignment
• Implementing state standards with Montessori materials
• Creative ideas for assistants
• Peace education
• Practical life
• Parent involvement
• Celebrating the Montessori culture
• Teacher training
• Middle school programs
• Scheduling
• Community involvement
INFO: http://www.txpublicmontessori.org or Robin McDurham at rmcdur...@wacoisd.org or (254) 752-5951.
Program Openings & Closings
Tobin Opens
Cambridge, MA—About 100 preschool through kindergartners showed up for the opening of a four-classroom program at Tobin Montessori School.
30 Classrooms Open at Gerena
Springfield, MA—Gerena Community School Montessori program opened this fall with more than 30 classrooms, preschool through elementary. It is the district’s second Montessori site following a highly successful program at Alfred G. Zanetti School.
Former Zanetti Principal Analida Munera moved to Gerena to start the program. Nearly 50 teachers went through training over the summer, according to Instructional Leadership Specialist Elizabeth Slade. “They are the most amazing, vital courageous group of young teachers you could find,” she said. In addition to training, they volunteered time to create Montessori environments in the school.
Dayton Consolidates
Dayton, OH—The Dayton district bumped up to this fall a plan to consolidated three Montessori programs into one site, due in part of a $30 million budget shortfall.Programs at Jefferson and Horace Mann Elementary, merged into Franklin Montessori, according to Debra Brathwaite, deputy superintendent/chief academic officer of the district.
Brathwaite said that for the past two years a committee examined the three programs and had concluded that to make the most comprehensive Montessori program, the district would have to go to one program. Brathwaite said Franklin was judged as the highest quality Montessori program.
Despite budget issues, the school is scheduled to move to a new building in two years, and will be preK-8.
Origins Charter Closed
Orlando, FL—The Orange County School Board voted unanimously to close Origins Montessori Charter School June 26, citing financial mismanagement and violation of state education laws.
The K-8 school had been in operation for 5 years and served 154 students.
While Julie Sanborn, the school’s director, denied any wrongdoing, over the past few years the district had warned Sanborn several times that the school was in danger of violating state education laws.
During this time, the district maintained that Sanborn ignored their warnings, missed meetings and training sessions set up to help charter schools operate within regulations.
The district found that the school accepted state money for students not attending the program, assigned students to two teachers who were not on the employment roll, that the school could not account for $27,945 it allegedly spent on training, nor could it account for money spent on student lunches and raised from fundraising events.
The district further cited late financial statements, state teacher certification requirements not being met and required fire drills not taking place as reasons for revoking the charter.
Sanforn could not be reached for comment, but according to press reports she said the school did not misspend or illegally collect public funds. She also said that the district miscalculated the number of fundraisers the school had.
Sanborn maintained that she struggled to find a competent staff, including financial administrators.
Parents pled to the board to keep the school operating, under a different director if necessary. Some parents said that their special-needs children could not be served by the other schools as they had by Origins.
According to the press reports, Sanborn will not appeal the board’s decision.
Palm Beach Gardens Charter Absorbed
Palm Beach Gardens, FL—Montessori Academy, a charter program that was in financial and programmatic distress, did not open for the fall 2007-2008 school year.
Joseph Orr, the school’s founder and former chief academic officer for the Palm Beach School District, said Montessori Academy’s location in the former media center of a district middle school was too small for the number of students school administrators hoped to serve
The district plans to route students to Dwight D. Eisenhower Elementary, a district school. They will participate in Montessori classes with their former instructors, Orr said.
An audit and a press inquiry found that the school had no Montessori trained teachers and had serious financial and mismanagement problems. It was required to repay $114,000 of a $300,000 federal start-up grant after failing to submit proper financial reports.
Middle Schools OK’d
Okemos, MI—The Okemos school board voted in May to add middle school grades to the district’s Montessori program at Edgewood Montessori School for the 2008-2009 school year. The program has been serving 3 to 11-year-olds for four years.
Jackson, TN—On short notice a middle school program will open at Parkview Montessori Magnet School.
The Jackson-Madison County School Board in late July voted to add seventh and eighth-grades at the school beginning this fall.
Parkview Montessori Principal Melinda Harris said the program had been long planned and a teacher had been in training at the time of the vote.
She said the school contacted families of students who had completed sixth grade at the school in 2006 and 2007 and had more applicants than positions for the single classroom.
Info request: Neighborhood Montessori
Pleasant Ridge Montessori is scheduled to open its new building next fall in Cincinnati.
It may be the first neighborhood public Montessori school in the United States. If there are others, Principal Joseph Porter would like to hear from anyone who knows about one.
He can be reached at (513) 363-4400 or port...@cpsboe.k12.oh.us
Montessori Franchising Company Opens in NJ
A family that runs a successful chain of schools in New Jersey is beginning a Montessori school franchising business.
The family of Jane Bailey, who started her first Apple Montessori school 36 years ago, will begin by franchising schools in the Northeast, according to Joanne Mooney, one of Bailey’s two daughters who began the venture with their husbands.
“As that progresses, we’ll see about moving outside the zone,” she said. “We have already had several inquiries, including international inquiries.”
The family currently operates 12 schools. “We know there is a need for good Montessori schools,” Mooney said. ”There are lots great teachers out there who know the classroom but not the business side.”
Mooney said franchisees would get help with finding, hiring and training teachers, marketing, advertising, real estate, classroom set up, playgrounds, recruiting parents, parent conferences and staff development.
Mooney said Apple has developed its own approach to Montessori education, which includes a copyrighted reading program, a computer program adapted at the school and classroom management procedures.
Training, support and accountability are keys to building the Apple brand, Mooney said. “We will maintain our high level of standards, professionalism and integrity.”
INFO: (973) 283-6400
Mammolina Website Future in Doubt
An ambitious, altruistic, inclusive Montessori website faces an uncertain future.
Mammolina.org, a website created by Joao Baroso in Beijing, suffered a server crash this summer and it is uncertain when, or if, it will return.
“I will keep the askmaria database of articles as the main area, and keep adding to it, then branch out from there,” he wrote.
Other sections of the site, including a bulletin board, bookstore, photo gallery, children’s work, tutorials and a webring, are victims of the crash.
“I spent more than a month battling the host and they could not care less,” Baroso wrote. “The mess the host company created is beyond recovery, much to my dismay, as countless hours of work went into it.”
Baroso, a Portuguese diplomat, said recovery is made more difficult because of increasing demands on his time managing responsibilities for culture, education, science and technology as Portugal assumes leadership of the European Economic Community.
“My vision for Mammolina is still unmet by anyone else, but I need to rethink the project and it may be a good time to do so…I need some serious planning before I move ahead and rebuild.”
He cited uncertainty about his Internet server, financial stability and difficulties in getting some Montessori educators to join his project.
In the last couple years another high-quality, inclusive, volunteer-run website, Montessori Teachers Collective, was discontinued by founder Don Jennings.
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