Montessori Partnerships for Georgia

Some newsworthy highlights from our July newsletter!

1. A Big Win for 3-Year Olds

Mixed-age classes beginning at age three are a key aspect of Montessori education. Research shows very strong outcomes for children who attend a Montessori Children's House for three years, from age three through kindergarten. https://news.virginia.edu/content/uva-led-national-study-finds-montessori-preschool-boosts-learning-cuts-costs

These three-year classes are challenging to set up in publicly funded programs because each age level is funded differently. In the 38 years that public Montessori has existed in Georgia, there has never been a publicly funded Montessori class serving children from age three through kindergarten-- until now.

This fall, three-year-olds will join all five of the Children's House classes at Charles Ellis Montessori Academy in Savannah! Their big win follows years of conversations between school and district leaders. Now that they have three-year mixed-age groups at the Children's House, Lower Elementary, and Upper Elementary levels, the school is eligible for accreditation from the American Montessori Society (AMS).

Congratulations to principal Patrice Prince and former principal Tanya Melville at Charles Ellis and to Dr. Denise Watts, Superintendent of the Savannah-Chatham County School System, on this achievement!

2. Student Voices Celebrate Montessori

This spring, Huntley Hills Elementary School in DeKalb County held its first Bridging Ceremony, bringing together children and families from all levels of Montessori to celebrate the children moving up to new classes and graduating from the program!

The students offered a powerful affirmation of the impact Montessori can have in public schools.

Congratulations to the teachers, children and school leaders at Huntley Hills!

3. Upcoming Workshop: Meeting the Need for Literacy Training
Training requirements for teachers and early educators have increased. We're here to help meet the need!

Our fall workshop, The Montessori Literacy Map: Science‑Aligned Strategies for Casa and Elementary Environments, presented by Zil Jaeger, will help schools meet both requirements. It will provide powerful insights into the ways Montessori aligns with the science of reading, as well as some important shifts needed to strengthen that alignment.

This two‑part workshop is designed for credentialed Montessori Children's House and Elementary lead teachers and will take place from 11:30-1:30 on October 17th and 31st. Registration information coming soon!

Not on our mailing list yet? Sign up here for updates! https://tinyurl.com/2zjuay64

"I'm here today to present to you what Montessori has meant to me over these past 7 wonderful years. What Montessori has meant to me is providing the gentle guidance and structured freedom that allows a child to discover their own potential at their own pace. What Montessori means to me is that you never give up even if it's something you've never learned or something your not the best at. What Montessori means to me is getting along with everyone even if it's some you don't talk to as much...I'm so thankful to be in Montessori."
--Idaliz N., 5th grade Montessori graduate

This Wednesday! Check out the new Montessori class opening at Premier Academy's Minnie Howell location in south Atlanta! Head Start and CAPS funding available.

Reserve your spot here:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeIrybCOPz1eJoAh_eY5ttxn8YeerCi8bTGrmrZ-Y_r24IroQ/viewform?usp=dialog

Check out this upcoming course from our friends at the Black Montessori Education Fund and Montessori Training Center Northeast! This in-depth orientation to the Montessori approach for 3-6-year-olds is great for classroom assistants, administrators, parent educators, and anyone interested in learning more about Montessori!

(3-6) Orientation starting July 13, 2026 with BMEF – Montessori Training Center Northeast This course is an introduction to Maria Montessori’s educational theory and practice for childrenin the Primary (3-6) level. It is designed for classroom assistants, teachers, administrators, parenteducators, parents, and anyone interested in the Montessori approach to education.Through lectures, ...

A great opportunity for free Montessori professional development from the amazing team at MINT!

We do not usually share all the dates at once, but for everyone who likes to plan ahead for free events, this one is for you.

The 2026–2027 MINT Professional Learning Community dates are now available for 0-3 Practitioners, 3-6, and 6-12.

This 100% sponsored, free series gives Montessori practitioners a regular space to step into conversation with others who understand the work.

Save the dates for the full year, and join us when the new school year begins. (And help your friends find out about this!)

Register to receive reminders: montessori-mint.org/plc

Public Montessori works!

“At the end of kindergarten, controlling for baseline scores and demographics, Montessori children had significantly higher reading, short-term memory, theory of mind, and executive function scores. Intention-to-treat effect sizes exceeded a fifth of a SD, considered large in field-based school research [M. A. Kraft, Educ. Res. 49, 241–253 (2020)]. This contrasts sharply with the more typical finding, where impacts of preschool are observed immediately following the program but disappear by the end of kindergarten. Further, a cost analysis suggested three years of public Montessori preschool costs less per child than traditional programs.”

A national randomized controlled trial of the impact of public Montessori preschool at the end of kindergarten | PNAS Although seminal studies from the early 1960s suggested quality preschool can have lasting positive effects, agreement is lacking on the efficacy o...

Our partners at Premier Academy are opening a new Montessori preschool classroom for 3- and 4-year-olds at their south Atlanta location! Info sessions June 17 and 24; see below for details.

This new classroom is part of Premier Academy’s commitment to provide free or low-cost education (free for qualifying Head Start families; CAPS accepted) for families who might otherwise not be able to afford the high cost of this popular educational program. We are so excited to help share the news!

To register for the info session, scan the QR code below or click here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeIrybCOPz1eJoAh_eY5ttxn8YeerCi8bTGrmrZ-Y_r24IroQ/viewform?usp=dialog

Teaching literacy is a hot topic, and we're gaining recognition nationwide for our work demonstrating the Montessori literacy curriculum's alignment with the science of reading!

At the Public Montessori Conference in April, participants packed in to hear a presentation of our work by Annie Frazer, along with that of Montessori Works (a similar organization in Delaware) and the National Center for Montessori in the Public Sector. Attendees expressed excitement about our work and a strong desire to collaborate nationwide.

As more and more states adopt laws specifying how reading can be taught, our partners in Savannah-Chatham and Baldwin County school districts, both of which have approved the Montessori literacy curriculum, are helping lead the way!

https://open.substack.com/pub/afteralpha/p/the-ai-tutor-takes-a-break

Another powerful piece from Kate Broughton.

In Montessori environments, we pay close attention to the child’s real work: the effort, the struggle, the joy, and the ownership that help them grow into capable human beings. This reflection from Kate Broughton is a beautiful reminder that learning is more than producing answers. It’s about becoming someone who can think, try, revise, and take responsibility.

In a moment when so much can be generated by AI, her words call us back to what is most human in our classrooms and in our children.

“Because machines can generate answers, but they cannot build a human being.

They cannot give a child the feeling of tying their own shoe for the first time.
They cannot replace the pride of building something that actually works.
They cannot replace the frustration of trying again after failing.
They cannot replace the experience of being responsible for something real.
They cannot replace belonging to a community.
They cannot replace trust.
They cannot replace being needed.
They cannot replace the slow construction of competence.”

“Very young children understand something that older students sometimes forget. Very young children do not say, “Help me do this so it is perfect.” They say, “Let me do it.” “I did it myself.” “I made this.” “Watch me.” Somewhere along the way, many children stop wanting to do the work and start wanting the result. They stop asking, “Can I do this?” and start asking, “Is this for a grade?” That is a very important moment in education. That is often the moment integrity begins to move, because the focus shifts from becoming capable to appearing successful.

If we look at education through the child lens, integrity is not primarily about honesty in the moral sense. It is about becoming a person who can do things, who tells the truth about what they can do, who takes responsibility when things go wrong, who contributes to a group, who finishes what they start, who tries again after failure, who can be trusted.

Integrity, in this sense, is closely tied to independence, competence, responsibility, and belonging.

This is why the conversation about AI in education is not really about technology. It is about the purpose of education. If education is mainly about producing correct answers, then machines may become the best students. But if education is about developing judgment, responsibility, persistence, collaboration, care, courage, curiosity, and contribution, then the role of school becomes more human, not less.”

The AI Tutor Takes a Break Can Humanness Be Synthesized

Upcoming webinar: the author of The Digital Delusion will offer a webinar titled "Bring True Learning Back to the Classroom"! March 24th, 7:30 Eastern Time.

Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: Action Network Live with Jared Cooney Horvath: Bring True Learning Back to the Classroom. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the webinar. A Special Event for Educators, School Administrators, District Officials, and Parents You’ve been told that progress looks like AI tutors, cutting-edge EdTech, and an equitable approach to device distribution for your students. Yet your years of studying, teaching, and working with children give y...

Job Openings at Our Network Schools!
Baldwin County School District in Milledgeville, GA has Montessori openings for this fall at both the Primary (Children’s House) and Elementary levels.

If you’re a certified Montessori teacher and interested in joining their team, contact:
Megan Shuman, District Montessori Lead
[email protected]

Not sure if you qualify?
Check out our guide to Georgia’s public Montessori teaching certificate:

Montessori Teacher Certification Resources • Montessori Partnerships for Georgia Montessori Teacher Certification Resources Guidance for Montessori Certificate Seekers The Georgia Montessori Teaching Certificate qualifies the holder to teach in a Georgia public Montessori classroom. To qualify, a certificate seeker…