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