Short on teachers, MPS sponsors Montessori training for 13 staff who promise to stay
For 18 months, the 2025 Montessori elementary credentialing cohort spent their evenings and weekends taking classes to receive certification for teaching grades 1-6 with hands-on materials. Shortly before the June 6 ceremony, they went through a final examination process.
"A lot of us are mothers of young children and working full-time in schools, and it's so rewarding to have done something this hard and be here today despite all that," said Katie Mullen, a paraprofessional at MacDowell Montessori School who will be teaching at Maryland Avenue Montessori School next year.
Lauren Schweiger, a teacher at Benjamin Franklin School, said Montessori training was one of the most difficult things she's ever done.
"It's been a challenge, but also refreshing," Schweiger said. "It was fun getting to know all our classmates."
In order to be licensed to teach in a Montessori school, teachers need special credentialing from the Montessori Accreditation Council for Teacher Education or Association Montessori Internationale, known as AMI. There are specific accredited learning centers where teachers can go to obtain the training.
The 2025 cohort of MPS candidates received training from the AMI-approved Montessori Training Center Northeast in Connecticut.
"We don't have one here in Milwaukee. It closed a couple years ago, which is a huge problem when you have the largest public Montessori system in the world," MPS Montessori Coordinator Abigail Rausch said. "We have a teacher shortage in general, but then finding people who have this particular certification is an extra burden."
So, MPS Montessori developed a partnership with MTCNE. In November 2023, credentialing classrooms for MPS Montessori teachers opened in Grant Gordon Learning Center in Milwaukee, with professors from the Connecticut center helping the 2025 cohort earn their Montessori license.
The district pays program tuition with a three-year commitment to MPS Montessori. The Milwaukee School Board approved a contract in 2023 to pay up to $300,000 for the 18-month course for up to 20 MPS employees.
MPS Montessori is currently looking for MPS staff members with bachelor's degrees who are interested in becoming Montessori educators. More information can be found at mpsmke.com/montessori.
Over a century ago, Italian pediatrician Maria Montessori developed an education system that allowed children to grow their skills through hands-on learning. In a Montessori classroom, children work with specially designed materials that teach one concept at a time. This introduces children to skills like independent work and interpersonal dynamics.
Mullen was drawn to Montessori education because of how it's rooted in peace activism and self-direction, she said.
"It's about the interconnection of all things on Earth — not just people — but plants and animals, and it's such a creative method of teaching that really stimulates independence in kids," Mullen said.
MPS offers the largest cluster of public Montessori schools in the U.S. with eight locations enrolling more than 4,000 students annually, according to MPS. Also according to the district, MacDowell Montessori is the nation's only public K–12 Montessori school and Riley Dual Language Montessori School is the region's only public English/Spanish Montessori program.
Rausch said while most Montessori school are private and expensive, MPS has been offering free district-wide Montessori education for for 51 years.
"Montessori is something that MPS does very well," Rausch said. "We're able to continue to invest in our children by investing in future Montessori teachers."
Despite MPS having the largest public Montessori system in the nation, Rausch said there is a staffing crisis partially because of how difficult the Montessori credentialing process is. Still, MPS is providing access to a different type of education that a number of families wouldn't normally be able to afford, Rausch said.
MPS has been home to public Montessori programs for over five decades.
1973: The MPS Early Childhood Program launched four Montessori pre-kindergarten programs, which were the first public Montessori schools in Wisconsin and some of the first in the nation.
1978: MacDowell Montessori school was established after MPS was ordered to desegregate in 1976. The school began as a magnet program to help the district achieve racial integration.
2006: MPS' Montessori high school opened. MacDowell Montessori is the only public K-12 school of its kind in the nation, and the high school program was featured in the documentary "Inside Montessori."
2018: The Milwaukee Board of School Directors passed a resolution to create a long-term Montessori Strategic Plan, which was later revised in 2022.
2023: MPS celebrated its 50th anniversary of offering public Montessori education.
Contact Mia Thurow at mthurow@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: MPS sponsors Montessori training for 13 staff who promise to stay
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