Some interesting news to share with you~
OHIO HBG 487 includes two provisions of great impact on the Montessori community. First, this legislation provides for enrollment of students under the age of 5 in Montessori charter schools. This allows for the full three year age cycle in the Montessori primary classrooms.
Secondly, this legislation provides an alternative path for obtaining a state teaching license for those who hold an AMS* or AMI teacher credential. A Montessori credentialed teacher can now apply for a state license, at the age span of credential, and can, therefore, teach in a public Montessori school.
The passage of this bill is thanks to the ongoing work and effort of NAMTA and AVANTI. It helps to set the ever important precedent as we move forward on similar initiatives in other states.
* note that all AMS Teacher Education Programs are accredited by MACTE.
The Pacific Northwest Montessori Association advocacy action has resulted in the Washington State Department of Early Learning (DEL) defining "early childhood" to include children six years of age. From the DEL- "This is so that child care programs can have greater flexibility in grouping children near the cutoff between preschool age and school-age.
This, therefore, provides for the full 3 year age span in Montessori primary programs in the state.
Congratulations PN Montessori Association.
Following a nation wide trend, the state of Washington has just announced that by 2015, all pre-K programs wanting to receive public funding to serve children, will be required to participate in QRIS.
Illinois has recently decided that ALL early child care programs in the state, private and public, will be required to participate in that state's QRIS. These two states follow in the footsteps of KY which requires participation by all programs.
Many states and cities with universal pre-K programs are requiring participation in QRIS if programs want to apply for public funds. Another trend we are seeing, which means that all of this has a greater impact on the Montessori community, is that of increasing the income limit for children to receive free pre-school. One program already offering free preschool to all families, regardless of income, is the Universal preschool program to begin this September in NYC.
It will be more and more difficult for private Montessori schools to ignore these trends.
Illinois- in addition to making QRIS mandatory, there are several other changes taking place in IL. The Gateways Professional Registry is evaluating specific competencies to determine teacher education and experience levels on the career lattice; a mandatory statewide assessment of kindergarten students- The Kindergarten Individual Development survey- will be instituted; early childhood programs are being studied for their validity in meeting the state's QRIS standards; and to ensure maximum coordination of departments, Inter agency Project Teams, between the Office of Early Childhood Development and the Office of the Governor, will focus on implementation, workforce development, community collaboration, and data and outcomes.
What makes IL particularly important is that it serves as a model and mentor for several other states.
A recent meeting sponsored by the Department of Early Learning in Washington was held to review the state's use of its Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge grant. This meeting was attended by representatives from Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. A Forum within this meeting focused on the integration of IDEA- part C, the federal legislation guaranteeing service for special needs children, within early childhood education programs and the need to have partnerships with local agencies and schools to build a coordinated approach to service.
The trend to require appropriate education and services to young children with learning differences will impact all early childhood programs and the requirements of staff working with those children.
Yet another trend we are seeing in Early Childhood Education is the importance of serving children 0-3. The most recent recipients of RTT ELC grants ( GA, KY, MI, NJ, PA, and VT) all included infants and toddler programs and dollars in their applications. Not only is money being made available to serve the youngest of children, but early learning guidelines, as well as requirements for education and experience for the "workforce" are resulting in mandated professional development. Another public initiative that will impact Montessori programs.
At the Federal level, both the House and Senate Committees on Education are putting in last minute work before the 5 week recess beginning at the end of the month. The Higher Education Act will provide funds for states to rank their teacher education programs (university, college, and free standing, including Montessori TEP's) on several criteria such as measures of teacher impact on student learning, employer evaluations, self identified assessment of preparedness for competence in the classroom, number of teachers still working after 3 years, and the number of teachers in full time positions. This data will be used to determine the quality of a teacher education program. Programs not scoring well will be required to institute an improvement plan to be monitored by the state. The Post Secondary Institution Ranting System- PIRS- will be created and monitored by the USDOE.
We have posted some recent research studies in the Montessori Forward Library, including an evaluation of the ECERS-R titled Do Standard Measures of Preschool Quality Used in Statewide Policy Predict School Readiness. Senior authors are Terri Sabol and Robert Pianta. The study appeared in Education Finance and Policy in the Spring 2014, vol.9, no. 2 , pages 116-164 issue.
And finally, a quote that we like-
"Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not" Dr. Seuss
Let us hear from you in your comments, and the List Serve. It's time to build our community so please invite your colleagues to take a look.
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