History of AMS

  • Dr. Montessori Travels to the US

    Dr. Montessori Travels to the US
    Dr. Montessori first visits the United States.
  • Tenth International Montessori Congress

    Tenth International Montessori Congress
    Nancy McCormick Rambusch travels to Paris for the Montessori Conference. She meets Mario Montessori. She is encouraged to take the Montessori training course and bring the philosophy to the United States.
  • Founding of the Whitby School

    Founding of the Whitby School
    With many parents support in Greenwich, CT, Nancy McCormick Rambusch opened the first Montessori school in the United States. Rambusch was the first head of school.
  • Rambusch Becomes Representative

    Rambusch Becomes Representative
    Mr. Montessori asked Ms. Rambusch to become the U.S. representative to AMI.
  • Creation of AMS

    Creation of AMS
    With rising popularity in Montessori education for students, Rambusch founds the American Montessori Society.
  • TIME Feature

    TIME Feature
    Montessori is given a larger US stage with a feature on the Whitby school in the May issue of TIME. Parents become more interested in the philosophy and are encouraged to create more Montessori schools in the United States.
  • Learning How to Learn is published

    Learning How to Learn is published
  • AMS and AMI Sign Agreement

    Both organizations sign an agreement stating that AMS will work as the liaison of AMI in the United States.
  • AMS and AMI Separate

    Mr. Montessori disagreed with AMS interpretation of teacher training. The two organizations begin to go separate ways.
  • Whitby School Training Program

    Whitby School Training Program
    The Whitby School Montessori Training program becomes part of the Graduate of Education Program at Manhattanville College. Ms. Rambusch often advocated for the training of Montessorians to be associated with degree conferral.
  • MACTE Created

    MACTE Created
    Montessori Accreditation Council for Teacher Education is founded.
  • IMC Founded

    IMC Founded
    The International Montessori Council is created. It is associated with the Montessori Foundation.
  • AMS Affiliated Schools reach 1200

    AMS membership hits 11,000 members, with 90 accredited teacher education programs.
  • Public Montessori Continues to Grow

    There are over 240 public Montessori programs in 32 states.
  • NCMPS Established

    NCMPS Established
    NCMPS is founded with AMS.
  • MPPI Established

    MPPI Established
    AMI/USA and AMS worked together to form the Montessori Public Policy Initiative.
  • NCMPS Independent

    NCMPS Independent
    National Center for Montessori in the Public Sector is incorporated independently in 2015.
  • Day One Academies is Created

    A project created by Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos (and Montessori alumni) to provide money towards Montessori education/scholarships. The scholarships are towards Montessori tuition for low-income families.