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Dr. Maria Montessori, Italy's first female doctor, opened the Casa dei Bambini (Children's House) to provide education to low-income children in Rome. Instead of using traditional teaching methods, Maria Montessori began testing her own child-centered educational theories in the classroom.
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http://www.digitalhistoryproject.com/2012/06/first-montessori-school-in-america-miss.html
The first Montessori school opened in 1911, in the home of a prominent banker in Scarborough, New York. By the 1920s, Montessori education in the U.S. had almost completely faded away, except for the occasional school or practitioner. -
Mario Montessori co-founded the Association Montessori Internationale (AMI) with his mother, Maria Montessori, in 1929.
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She discovered the writings of Maria Montessori as an undergraduate at the University of Toronto in the late 1940s
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While studying education in the late 1940s, at the University of Toronto, Dr. Rambusch came upon Dr. Maria Montessori's writings. These writings were the catalyst for AMS. AMS was founded in 1960. Its mission was to redefine educational options in the United States for children and educators. AMS has evolved to utilizing the most current technology and standards. Moreover, AMS's current President is a person of color, the first President of color in its history.
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In search of answers, she traveled to Paris in 1953 to attend the Tenth International Montessori Congress. There she met the new leader of the international Montessori movement, Mario Montessori. She was urged by Mario to take Montessori training and to bring Montessori education back to the United States.
Practical Life Lessons: http://hdl.handle.net/11134/20002:860283612 -
Correspondence between Nancy Rambusch and Mario Montessori Nancy received her AMI training in London, returned home, opened up a small school, initially in her New York apartment. Thereafter, she moved to Connecticut, and she founded and became Headmistress of Whitby School, which became the flagship school of the American Montessori revival. In June 1959, Mario Montessori appointed Dr. Rambusch, the American “representative of AMI.
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In her home in Greenwich Village, New York, Rambusch set up a small Montessori playgroup consisting of her own two children and several preschoolers from the neighborhood.
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In 1956, Rambusch and her family moved to Connecticut, where she met a small group of parents who were similarly dissatisfied by the education offered by local Catholic parochial schools and were interested in establishing a Montessori school United States.
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Whitby School opens on Cliffdale Road in a stable of the Terrien family with an enrollment of 17 (3-to-7-year-olds) and Nancy Rambusch as Headmistress. By December 1959, the school had grown to 63 children. In 1961, Whitby moved again into a new 150 student school building. The growing interest in Montessori education in the United States fostered the demand for Montessori trained teachers, which were in short supply. http://learn.whitbyschool.org/whitby-school-history#1950s
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In June 1959, Rambusch was appointed the representative of AMI in the United States. She was tasked with forming Montessori schools in the United States, establishing an institution for training teachers in the Montessori method, and helping to establish a Montessori Society in the United States that would be affiliated with AMI.
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The first training courses used Whitby classes as a model; trainees observed Montessori classrooms in practice. Differences of ideas between Rambusch and Mario Montessori strained relations with AMI, which felt that Dr. Montessori’s principles were universal and could not be modified without destroying their integrity. Despite good-faith attempts on both sides, the philosophical differences could not be reconciled. The rift deepened controversies over finances and control.
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Ultimately, in 1963, AMI withdrew its recognition of AMS as a Montessori society, and from that point until the present, AMS has existed independently of AMI. With the AMS, the office was in chaos, and the organization was in danger of disintegrating. In an effort to improve the functionality of the organization, the AMS Board hired Cleo Monson as Executive Secretary in January 1963. A few months later, Rambusch resigned.
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The national office of AMS moved from Greenwich to New York City, where it has since remained.
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Demand for trained Montessori teachers grew. AMS set standards for teacher training and certification, as well as pedagogical resources to meet Montessori education.
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http://hdl.handle.net/11134/20002:860265530 Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, AMS grew with teacher training instruction. AMS constantly sought to widen its appeal. Its ties with the Comite Hispano Montessori, for instance, enabled the Montessori method and resources to thrive in Spanish-speaking communities in the Americas and the Caribbean.
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Cleo Monson became the first National Director, pivotal importance that she essentially created and held until her retirement in 1978. In her own way, she was as responsible as Dr. Rambusch for the existence of AMS. AMS’s seminars and conferences also helped foster communication, professional growth, and a shared sense of identity among Montessori teachers.
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Dr. Rambush continued to be a prominent voice in the American Montessori movement until she died in 1994.
https://youtu.be/tpSvdxToLkg -
"AMS has a clear mission, engaged membership, incredible staff, and dedicated board. It is my honor to collaborate with board and staff to build on our 60-year history as we work to ensure our health, strength, and equitability, now and for the future." ~ MUNIR SHIVJI, AMS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
https://youtu.be/P9XJb2vJ7Bk
