| In 1907, Maria Montessori founded the first Montessori | | | | to aspiring educators. |
| school in Rome. Its overall purpose was to give four to | | | | In the late 1960s, some parents started to call for the |
| seven year old children from low-income families a | | | | public schools in their local areas to offer the |
| full-day educational program. | | | | Montessori education model for their elementary |
| The idea quickly developed and grew in popularity and | | | | school children who had graduated from private |
| thus more Montessori schools were formed in Europe | | | | Montessori pre-schools. |
| and India. It did not take long for the school method to | | | | The public's rush of support was given a boost by |
| cross over to the United States of America. | | | | government funds being made available for new |
| In fact, Montessori's teaching methods created great | | | | Montessori programs starting up in public school areas. |
| interest in the United States from 1910 through 1920. | | | | Today, over one hundred U.S. school districts have |
| Unfortunately, Montessori's methods seem to be | | | | some type of Montessori program. |
| largely forgotten in the United States until the late | | | | But just why has Montessori become so popular ? |
| 1950s. | | | | Many believe it is due to the program's ability to |
| It was around that time when a second Montessori | | | | overcome three major problems that the public school |
| movement started in America. This time, the main | | | | systems are still faced with. While the public school |
| focus was on a set of private schools that served an | | | | system has been put into a state of upheaval, the |
| almost entirely middle-class population. | | | | Montessori school systems have flourished. |
| The Montessori educational system struggled with it's | | | | Using their unique teaching methods, Montessori |
| own success when it started having trouble finding | | | | students have demonstrated a consistently high level |
| enough teachers. In fact, it took that teacher shortage | | | | of reading comprehension and academic performance. |
| to start the creation of free-standing private | | | | In the book "Montessori Parents Guide", we dive |
| Montessori teacher training centers. Each of these | | | | deeper into how a Montessori program is powerfully |
| centers were not associated with any college or | | | | unique and sets itself aside from current teaching |
| university and taught the Montessori teaching methods | | | | methods. |