Montessori Resources

An article written by Glenn Rifkin, a veteran journalist and author who has been a regular contributor to the New York Times, declares “when it comes to producing creative business leaders, a Montessori education has proven to be a potent predictor for future success.” Appearing in “Briefings on Talent & Leadership,” a quarterly business journal published by the Korn Ferry Institute, the article lauds the Montessori approach for fostering the skills needed in future leaders.

What do P. Diddy, Sergey Brin & Peter Drucker have in common?

It’s not every day that a discussion about cutting-edge technology education veers off to laud the Montessori methods. Perhaps that is why the following piece published at Forbes.com really caught our eyes here at WMS. We enjoyed its message and thought you our parent body would enjoy it as well. The article responds to a Wired.com feature about a teacher in Mexico who using “radical new teaching methods” transformed the primary school in a poor, rural town of Mexico. The article goes on to discuss the “hole in the wall” experiment in which a computer is left out for kids to try out. Without instruction, children would not only learn how to use the computer but also how to teach themselves things, like molecular biology, for example. Contributing writer for Forbes, Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry admits ‘this story is inspiring and even, at times, moving.” But, he says, “here’s the thing: there is nothing new about it…In fact, the future of education was invented in 1906.” That’s the year Maria Montessori opened her revolutionary school.

“The Future Of Education Was Invented In 1906″

This article written by James Martin, as a special to The Globe and Mail, describes how Montessori alumni impact the business cultures of today.

“From the outside, Google seems like a study in contradiction: Playful inquisitiveness and a $205-billion market cap don’t go together. Except, for Google, they do. In fact, the one may actually drive the other.

“You can’t understand Google,” Marissa Mayer, now Google’s vice-president of location and local services, told Newsweek, “unless you know that both Larry and Sergey were Montessori kids.”

Maria Montessori: guru for a new generation of business innovators

This article, written by Laura Flores Shaw, appeared in The Huffington Post.

“Now, research in psychology and neuroscience continually validates Dr. Montessori’s conclusions about children and learning, and Montessori schools are flourishing — not just preschools but, increasingly, elementary, middle and secondary schools. So as the education reform debate thunders on, with the many sides agreeing on little beyond the fact that our schools as they are currently designed are failing our children, I can’t help but wonder: Where is the voice of the Montessori movement in the American school reform conversation?”

Montessori: the missing voice in the education reform debate

This article was written by By Carolina A. Miranda of parenting.com. “The word ‘creativity,’ in our society, tends to be applied to artistic endeavors. But divergent thinking is an essential part of everyday life, whether it’s navigating office politics or devising a new social-media network,” she writes. Divergent thinking is something we stress here at WMS

Why we need to let kids be creative

Written by Dane Peters, Head of Brooklyn Heights Montessori School, this article addresses the transitions into, within and beyond a Montessori education.

Montessori Transitions - PDF | 68KB

This article appeared in the Wall Street Journal and was inspired by Ryan Sager, WSJ Commissioning Editor and a 1993 graduate of Washington Montessori School.

“Ironically, the Montessori educational approach might be the surest route to joining the creative elite, which are so overrepresented by the school’s alumni that one might suspect a Montessori Mafia: Google’s founders Larry Page and Sergei Brin, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, videogame pioneer Will Wright, and Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, not to mention Julia Child and rapper Sean “P.Diddy” Combs.

Montessori Mafia

This video is a “fast-draw” animation of a talk by Trevor Eissler, Montessori parent and author of “Montessori Madness: A Parent to Parent Argument for Montessori Education.”

This article was written by then Head of School Pat Werner in collaboration with Middle School Teacher Tom Fahsbender, Montessori colleague William Maier, Librarian Norma Mitchell and Board Member John Friedman.

Win-Win Competition - PDF | 880KB

This article was written by  Tim Seldin, President of the Montessori Foundation, as found in Vol. 4. Number 4 of Tomorrow’s Child.

Montessori 101 - PDF | 2.3MB

This article was written by Tim Seldin, President of the Montessori Foundation.

Hanging in with Montessori - PDF | 4.4MB

An analysis of students’ academic and social scores compares a Montessori school with other elementary school education programs. By Angeline Lillard, professor of psychology at the University of Virginia. This report was published in Science magazine.

“Five-year-olds were also tested on executive function, thought to be important to success in school. On one such test, children were asked to sort cards by one rule, switch to a new rule, and (if they did well) then switch to a compound rule. Montessori children performed significantly better on this test.”

Evaluating Montessori Education - PDF | 168KB

The most important time for learning is in the early years of life.

Early + Often = Forever - PDF | 297KB

The entire program at Washington Montessori School is carefully planned and intended to support each child’s progression toward self-sufficiency and independence. To aid our collaborative effort as teachers and parents in promoting your child’s self-reliance, we thought it would be a useful tool to have a shared set of benchmarks guiding our expectations of our students both at school and at home.

Road to Self Reliance

WMS is a source of support and education for parents, as well as students. We believe that educating children requires partnership and trust among teachers, administrators and parents. With that in mind, we offer a variety of learning opportunities throughout the year, including both Montessori related education as well as discussions about other relevant and timely parenting topics. All parent education opportunities are open to the public. 

Current Learning Opportunities