It is estimated that there are 4,500 Montessori schools in the United States and 20,000 worldwide. Unfortunately, there is no trademark on the name “Montessori”, which means that anyone can use that name for their school regardless of whether they have trained Montessori teachers on staff or not.
To complicate matters more, because there is no trademark on the name, many different Montessori training centers have sprung up over the years with little resemblance to Montessori’s original work. That means that there are some authentic Montessori schools and many Monte-something schools.
Out of the 4,500 schools in the US, we are proud to say that we are one of 198 schools that are accredited as “authentic”, high quality Montessori schools! When Maria Montessori went back to court to claim her name as a trademark, she was denied her request, because “your name has been out in the public for too long and been used by too many people at this point in time.” In reaction to that court decision, Maria Montessori founded an organization to protect the integrity of her work and named this organization “The Association Montessori Internationale” (AMI).
To be accredited by AMI, schools need to meet the highest, most rigorous standards. Every three years consultants come to AMI schools to observe in their classrooms and conference with their teachers and administrators.
We are proud to announce that our AMI accreditation has been approved for another 3 years. That puts us in the top 4% of all Montessori schools!
Consultant: Lila Carusillo from Washington D.C.
50+ years as a Montessori teacher and consultant