Moving Montessori Forward?

This web site was begun as a volunteer venture by a small group of Montessori educators who were concerned by the impacts certain state initiatives seemed to be having on high quality Montessori schools and programs. It was hoped that by creating a space for sharing information about these potential impacts, a community of Montessorians would come together to support one another, guide one another, and  join their efforts to work with those who were charged with implementing these state initiatives.

In a few short months, we've worked hard to give you the tools you would find most valuable in your efforts at the state level. Some of you have shared your experiences with Our Stories: Grass Roots Advocacy in Action. These stories have included your personal experience having your school assessed for your state's QRIS, you have shared the successes you were able to create by working with state agencies, and we've shared both good times and frustrating times as you come together to form state coalitions for advocacy. Much great work has been done in so many states and in so many ways.

Let's take a moment to congratulate ourselves for the progress we have made, and for the efforts that so many of you are engaged in. We are coming together as a community. And we can be proud of that.

But what comes next? How do we continue to grow this grassroots effort? How can we use, and contribute to Montessori Forward to support our state coalition work, and to offer support and encouragement to each other?

What do YOU want from Montessori Forward? What would YOU like to accomplish and how can this community of dedicated Montessorians help you? What next steps do we need to make as a community? We know some of the issues facing us- how do we share what high quality Montessori looks like, and what the many benefits for children and their families are? How can we work together to align our curriculum with state Early Learning Standards, and common core? How do we gain recognition for our teachers and the competencies we have to offer? How do we share who we are, and what we do, and how we do it with those outside our own "Montessori community?"

We need input from each of you. Share your ideas, your thoughts, your frustrations, your questions. Volunteer to start a group to work on alignments, or information packets or.... you name it.

Comment on what you see here. Join the list serve and tell us all what you are thinking and what you need and what you want to offer. Let's build on what we have started here. This site belongs to us all. Together we can build it to be the community that will give strength to our goal- moving Montessori Forward.