Are you a certified Montessori teacher?

There are no state regulations on the certification of private school teaching staff, Montessori or not. There are many “upscale” private schools that do not have one person on their staff with a degree in education or anything else. (I once visited a school where the only person who had a HIGH SCHOOL diploma was an aide!)

Public schools are mandated to have “highly qualified teachers”, private schools- who knows? Their whole staff could be Ph. D’s or they all could be mothers who want a cut in tuition for their child.  So ask, "Are you a certified Montessori teacher and if so, by which organization?"

Do NOT accept the word “trained”. If you are told, “We have a fully trained staff.” Repeat your question.  "Are all staff members “certified” and with which specific program?"

"Training" can mean anything from actually having a higher degree to having read a web page. (I knew a director/owner who told people she was “Austrian trained”. She just seemed to forget to tell people that her “training” was in hotel management! More than that, she had failed all her classes her first year and dropped out! Her extent of Montessori knowledge came from reading one web page, not even a whole site, just one page prior to opening her school.)

Additionally, As far as the correspondence courses go, many authentic Montessori schools won’t accept on-line or correspondence courses as certification. It’s not that they are all bad, or that everyone who is trained through one is a horrible teacher, it’s just that it is harder to tell how well trained someone is since all the work is done privately and submitted on-line or by mail. How do you know that they didn’t get someone else to write their papers and take their tests?