Leadership

Continue your Montessori journey with school leadership certification. Our high quality, low-residency training for Montessori leaders will help you to create a world-class school.

What is it?

This is a training program for school administrators, designed to give school heads everything they need to manage successful, authentic, and long-lived Montessori schools. As with our other programs, the Leadership Credential is a blend of the best of online learning with a single, short on-site residency. Leadership Full Credential is MACTE accredited

Who is it for?

The Leadership program is for both new and experienced school heads, as well as for others who wish to someday lead world class Montessori schools. Designed in collaboration with the Montessori Foundation, the program has components tailored for both those with more Montessori experience than business, as well as for others who are less familiar with Montessori pedagogy than they are with the business side.

The Leadership program has been built in a modular format so that it can best be tailored to meet participants’ needs, whether they be trained Montessori teachers or neophytes, or work in public, private, or charter schools. Each module includes material from many passionate expert Montessori school leaders with decades of experience running successful schools.

What does it contain?

This course is designed to provide an MBA-like experience in Montessori Leadership. The program explores every essential area of running a successful school. Topics include:

• Leadership from a Montessori Perspective
• Faculty & Human Resources
• School Leadership & Governing Bodies
• Educational Program & Survey of Montessori Education
• School Finance
• Marketing, Building Enrollment & Community
• Fundraising
• Facility management
• Buying and selling a school
• Starting a private school
• Starting a public or charter program
• Working with boards and other stakeholders
• Best practices for public Montessori programs

Who is teaching it?

The Leadership program is taught by leading Montessorians with decades of experience in school administration, teaching, finance, marketing, and other skills. For more information please click here to see our faculty page that lists the presenters in our course.

Where would I study?

This low-residency certificate program is performed mostly online. There is a single short residency held in the summer.

How long does it take?

The course of study takes 16 months. During that time you will peform a full year internship at a Montessori school, your own if you wish.

Through a combination of residential classes and e-technology video lectures and presentations, CGMS offers a deep and comprehensive exploration of the Montessori approach. Adult learners complete a variety of meaningful assignments which relate directly to their classroom experience and provide opportunities for practical application of the course material. Weekly interactions with instructors and fellow adult learners in online discussion forums and chats serve to build a rich and supportive learning community and provide additional opportunities for integration of course topics.

What is it like to be in this program?

Participants should expect to work 10 hours a week on stimulating individual and group assignments, and have access to hundreds of resources such as videos and reading materials. The program will be about 16 months long, from start to finish.

During this 16 month program, participants will also perform a practicum internship in a Montessori school, their own or another. They will continue their online studies during this practicum phase, enabling learners to ground their theory with examples from their working lives and then receive quick feedback from instructors and fellow students in weekly live video classes.

As with all CGMS programs, students will learn in collaborative online groups, working together under the close guidance of experienced teacher trainers. Our students can watch training presentations over and over again at their own pace, and even get to share and critique their own presentations with other students and their instructional guide. Collaborative case studies will allow students to share insights and learn from each other as they examine complex issues from different perspectives.

More details

Certification Level: IMC Montessori Certification for School Leadership

Length of Course: 16 months includes:

• Distance learning coursework over the entire 16 months with a one week break approximately every 8 weeks, a 2 week winter break, and a one month summer break. During this summer break the 1 week summer residency will be scheduled.
• One Residential Session – 40 hour session takes place over a single week, usually during the first summer. Locations vary from year to year. To see currently scheduled residential locations, click here.
• Practicum Requirement – full school year internship as an administrator at a Montessori school.

Program Description

Leadership certificate adult learners will complete all three phases of the CGMS teacher education program:

Distance Learning Phase – New cohorts (groups) of adult learners may begin several times a year. Adult learners follow a specific schedule of course curriculum working with fellow adult learners and Instructional Guides on a weekly basis. Adult learners should plan an eight – ten hour week, which can be scheduled at their own convenience, to view course video lectures and presentations, complete a variety of assignments, and participate in course discussions. Once a week adult learners participate in a one hour scheduled chat session. During this phase adult learners will need access to an authentic Montessori school to complete many assignments.

Residential Phase – Participants must attend a single 1 week residential session which is held during the first summer subsequent to beginning training. The summer session may include group projects to deepen understanding of strategic analysis, negotiation, and finance.

The Practicum Phase – Participants are required to complete a 9 month full day – full school year practicum/ internship in an administration role in an approved Montessori school.

Adult learners will be assigned a Field Consultant who will visit the student in the practicum classroom to provide feedback and support the student’s growth and progress as a school leader. CGMS makes an effort to find and contract qualified Field Consultants within reasonable driving distance of the student. When this is not possible, the adult learner or sponsoring school will be responsible for the additional travel cost for the practicum evaluation visits.

In some cases Adult Learners may require extra support due to the circumstances of their schools. When that occurs, CGMS may be able to provide that at an additional charge, or locate a party more qualified to assist. In some of these situations, CGMS may require that the Adult Learner obtain needed support from some party in order to be able to successfully complete the Leadership Program. Identifying the need for this support is most often done at the time of enrollment.