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Dr. Montessori toured the United States in 1913 and 1915, lecturing on her educational theories. Yet by the 1920s her ideas had been rejected by mainstream American educators. Montessori movement has stopped in the United States for the next several decades.
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Nancy McCormick Rambusch met Mario Montessori in the Tenth International Montessori Congress. She started conducting Montessori classes for her own children from her New York apartment.
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The Rambusch family moved to Greenwich, CT in 1956. Nancy and other supported parents founded Whitby School, the first Montessori school to open in the US.
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Mario Montessori appointed Nancy Rambusch to serve as the US representative of the AMI in 1959. This led, in the following year, to the founding of the American Montessori Society (AMS), with Rambusch as its first president.
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Rambusch believed that aspects of the Montessori method had to be modified to accommodate the culture of America and its children. AMI felt that Dr. Montessori’s principles were universal and could not be modified without destroying their integrity. Due to the philosophical difference, controversies over finances and control, AMI withdrew its recognition of AMS. AMS became an independent Montessori Society. In the same year, AMS national office moved from Greenwich to New York City.
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AMS held its first conference and seminar.
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In the early 70s, public schools started to make accommodations for Montessori education.
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From 1963 to 1973, Cleo Monson's administrative abilities rendered her indispensable as the coordinator of virtually all the society’s activities. In 1973, she became the first National Director.
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From 1970 to 1980, AMS constantly sought to widen its appeal by providing consultation service programs to schools, conferences, and seminars. AMS was very proud of the success of its first International Symposium, held in Athens in 1979, which featured as speakers several internationally renowned educators and scholars.
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AMS is now a professional membership organization with thousands of supporters worldwide. A few more organizations have evolved from AMS. 1995, Montessori Accreditation Council of Teacher Education. The 90s-00s, Montessori Public Policy Initiative. 2012, the National Center for Montessori in the Public Sector.
