Montessori Institute of America
23807 98
th
Avenue S, Kent, WA, 98031
Phone:
253-859-2262
Fax:
253-859-1737
Email:
mia@montessoriplus.org
Inside
Visi ns
MIA
in a Changing World
Spring, 2007
MONTESSORI CENTENNIAL CELEBRATIONHELD IN BEIJING, CHINA, JANUARY 7, 2007
Beijing Montessori Education Tech-nology Center stated that the timedierence rom Rome to Beijingbrought this celebration close to theactual hour o the school’s opening100 years beore!)More than 100 Montessori teach-ers, owners o schools and “pioneers”in Montessori education, attendedthe 100
th
celebration in Beijing,China, o Dr. Maria Montessori rstschool’s opening on January 6, 1907,in Rome, Italy. (Interesting, Mr. Lu o
100th celebration o Montessori's rst school, Jan. 7, 2007, Beijing, ChinaContinued on page 7
Evaluating Montessori .......2Montessori In China ..........3Kupino Center .....................5MIA Biannual Conerence ..8
Continued on page 11
EVALUATING MONTESSORI:Why the Results Matter More Than You Think
By Jacqueline Cossentino
T
he publication this past allo research ndings indicatingsignicant perormance gains orchildren who learn in Montessorischools has sent waves o interestthroughout the educationalcommunity (
Science
, Sept. 29, 2006).Educators who care about ambitiousschool reorm should take careulnote.Using a set o excellent proxies orlearning—not just achievement—and equally impressive populationand implementation controls,psychologists Angeline S. Lillard o in the group outperormed theirnon-Montessori counterparts innearly every measure. Findings or12-year-olds, while not as dramatic,also suggest reliable success rates orMontessori students.Even more important, the studyoers clues to both why Montessoriworks and what it would take tomake it work or large numberso students. Yet while the study’simpeccable design and stunningresults are what prompted the journal
Science
to accept it, criticscontinue to express doubt aboutboth the reliability o the results (toosmall a sample) and the ecacy o Montessori as a successul approachto reorm (no system can be thatgood).
M
any o the elements o Montessori thought to be“quaint” and “unscientifc” have been validated and absorbed into the educational mainstream.
In act, the ndings, along withthe critiques, recall early reactions toMaria Montessori and the “miraclechildren” whose reading, writing, sel-care, and concentration looked morelike those o well-behaved adultsthan preschool-age children. Theywere the products o Montessori’snew method o educating theyoung, honed and developed ather rst “Children’s House,” whoseounding in Rome 100 years ago thismonth is being celebrated this year.When Montessori later brought the“method” to the United States, therewas both awe and disbelie.Lacking a thoroughunderstanding o the complexities o Montessori’s approach, critics such asthe noted Teachers College, ColumbiaUniversity, proessor William HeardKilpatrick railed against the “allacies”o sel-correcting materials, “outwornand casto” psychological theory,and a sharp ocus on concentrationat the supposed expense o social
Help us, O God, to enter in to thesecret of childhood, so that we mayknow , love and serve the child inaccordance with the laws of Thyjustice and following thy holy will.
Maria Montessori
The Absorbent Mind
p. 286
the University o Virginia and NicoleM. Else-Quest, then o the Universityo Wisconsin, have produced, or therst time, scientic evidence thatMontessori “works,” and not justor children o privilege. Drawingrom a population o inner-citypublic Montessori school students,the study shows that 5-year-olds
Our respect for the child's right toprogress gradually along the pathof growth would prevent us from trying to hold him back, and keephim at a phase of development thathe would naturally wish to outgrow.
Maria Montessori
The Child in the Church
p. 17
development.A century later, contemporarypsychology has caught up toMontessori’s revolutionary insights(insights gained rom close andongoing child study), and many o theelements o Montessori thought tobe “quaint” and “unscientic” not onlyhave been validated by experimentalpsychology, but also have beenabsorbed into the educationalmainstream. It is now common, orinstance, to nd child-size urniture,manipulative materials, mixed-age grouping, and dierentiatedinstruction in all manner o Americanclassrooms.Likewise, new research on braindevelopment, embodied cognition,
Reprinted by permission rom
Education Week
MONTESSORI INCHINA, 2007
By Sharlet J. McClurkin
Beijing, the capital o China andthe uture site o the 2008 Olympics,was the location or the rst ullMontessori training course in China,provided by the Montessori TeacherPreparation o Washington, Kent, WA,and sponsored by the MontessoriInstitute o America. Having beenaway rom Beijing or ten years, I wasamazed at the wide thoroughares,stage Montessori classrooms, onthe grounds o the Agricultural andScientic Academy Kindergarteno China. It was sponsored by theBeijing Montessori Education Tech-nology Center, directed by MadameAnhua Lv and Shuquan Lu. Mr. Lu isthe publisher o a Montessori maga-zine in China. Madame Lv and Mr. Luprovide three levels o non-accred-ited Montessori training to over 1,000teachers each year: Course I, Intro-ductory; Course II, Intermediate; andCourse III, Advanced. By taking CourseI, an individual may become certiedby BMETC as an assistant Montessori Teacher. Through taking the addi-tional Course II, teachers receive certi-cation as a lead Montessori teacher.We provided Course III as a ull
Home locations o 45 Chinese students enrolled in the rst MIA training, Jan. 8- Feb. 9, 2007.
street lights, skyscrapers, and modernlook o the city. Even more surprisingwere the English-speaking taxi driv-ers and packed supermarkets. Are allo these people“techies”? Wheredo they get theirmoney to buysuch a variety o ruits and vegeta-bles and anythinga person mightwant in a mod-ern city? Theycertainly are notteachers. The 5-week course was heldin the balletclassroom, acrossthe courtyardrom eight rst-
Mr. and Mrs. McClurkin meet 1997 students, YanWu and ZhangLan (now headmaster o BeijingNormal University Montessori School.
course, approved and sponsored bythe Montessori Institute o Americaand leading to a ull certicate or thelevel, 2 ½ to 6 years, rom the Montes-sori Institute o America.Forty-ve teachers/ proessors, orpreschool directors arrived in Beijingrom all over China, rom west toeast, rom north to south, to stay indorms on the university campus orwith riends or amily in the city. Oneretired teacher rom south China rodetrains or thirty-ve hours to get toBeijing. Many o the teachers hadborrowed money to attend the class,or quit their jobs in order to attend.One student was required by herkindergarten to pay a surety depositto the school that would be given toher when she returned to her teach-ing position. Most o the teachershad received a short, non-accreditedtraining course that provided thema basic understanding o Montes-sori education. When speaking tothem through an interpreter, I couldsee the excitement in their eyes andthe grateulness to us or coming toChina with the ull MIA course. To our surprise nearly all orty-veteachers came early to the optional“spiritual storytelling” lessons rom
First MIA training class in China, Jan. 8– Feb. 9, 2007, Beijing, China.Continued on page 4
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www.miaworld.org - Spring 2007
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