What Is Advocacy?

In a conversation with a fellow Montessori educator, just a few days ago, the conversation turned to QRIS, and with it, recognition of the Montessori early childhood credential as meeting a standard way above that of a CDA (A Child Development associate certificate), the use of an environmental rating scale that does not accurately assess the true value and benefit of a fully implemented Montessori classroom and program, and the need to align the Montessori curriculum with early learning standards set by the state.

This dedicated Montessorian said, "We should just refuse to participate. We've been fine all along. Why should we compromise now?" "If we participate, we'll have to have soft toys in our classrooms, and we won't be allowed to use glass, tools, or real Montessori materials." "We just need to ignore all of this."

Here are the standard answers:  QRIS ratings are published and can be used by parents to make early education decisions for their children.State agencies make judgments about Montessori education and its lack of legitimacy (such is the case in most states which do not currently recognize national organization accreditation of Montessori program, like they do accreditation by the National Association for Education of the Young Child (to read the history of that organization and its significant impact on early childhood education standards and assessments, go to the Library at MF and read the article on the history of ECE public policy). Funding both for enrollment and professional development is tied to these ratings. Policy makers continue making choices based on the only information they have regarding quality and these initiatives and legislation will continue to impact our community. The general public continues to have misconceptions, and just wrong ideas, about what Montessori education is all about.

But the real reason we cannot ignore the accountability movement in education is that we don't want to compromise.  We know from personal experience just what is so special about "authentic" "real" "valid" "fully implemented" Montessori education. And we do risk losing that if we give in, give up, or simply turn our backs on the educational policies that require certain ratios and group size, that mandate rules and regulations that dictate materials we can have in the classroom, that require professional development that is "hoop jumping." QRIS may morph into the next big thing, just like Common Core is getting push back in so many southern states, but accountability is not going to go away. These initiatives can be traced back even before the Governor's Summit of 1980 declared in a document that has impacted educational policy for the past 34 years, that we were, and are, A Nation At Risk.

Advocacy starts with a dedication to high fidelity, high quality Montessori philosophy fully implemented in our classrooms, and our schools. The fundamental reason for us to engage in advocacy is our belief in the importance of adhering to the practice of Montessori education based on the teachings of Dr. Montessori, our own empirical evidence of its value for children and their families, and our commitment to implementation of that authenticity as we best understand it. If we don't have that commitment, if it just seems too hard to work for those elements we know are essential, if we just want to long for the "good old days" when we could just run our schools and teach our kids, then there is no reason to advocate. As accountability standards are set by politicians, by policy makers, by state agencies who do not know, or understand, the actual benefits of a Montessori education but continue to rely on the only information they do have (from NAEYC, from Head Start, for the ECERS), our community will continue to be put in jeopardy. And we will stand back and watch as our classrooms are mandated to compromise on curriculum and materials, our teachers are not recognized for the professionals they are, and parents choose "free public school pre-K" for their 4 year olds.

As Montessori educators, in the classroom or has heads of schools, do we care enough about the children we teach, the families who see the benefits for their children and themselves as parents, the work we are doing to advocate for it? If we don't do it, no one else will. It is the Montessori educator that is the most crucial element in the implementation of the philosophy. We know how to prepare the environment and to connect our students to the materials so that they can make the discoveries and become the people we know they can. It is us who can educate the public, policy makers, state agencies.

This requires a paradigm shift for many of us. It requires that we take a stand, that we stand up and speak up, and that we create a Montessori culture of collaborative community that agrees to essential elements, that works together to educate those who don't know or understand what Montessori education is all about, and which insists, through our actions of respect, that we find the ways to support high quality Montessori education.

Each of us has a role to play. Each of us can make the decision to take a stand in support of Montessori education.

C. Lowry
Montessori Forward