American Montessori Society

  • Nancy Rambusch meets Mario Montessori

    Nancy McCormick Rambusch travels to Paris for the Tenth International Montessori Congress. She met Mario Montessori there, and he urged her to bring the Montessori Method to the United States.
  • Rambusch moves to Connecticut

    After offering Montessori classes in her NYC apartment, Nancy Rambusch moved to Greenwich, Connecticut. She fostered the Montessori movement there among a group of prominent parents seeking a different style of education for their children.
  • Whitby School is founded

    The group of parents involved with the Montessori movement in Connecticut opened the Whitby School, the first Montessori school to open in the United States in the second half of the twentieth century.
  • Rambusch appointed head of AMI in the US

    Mario Montessori appointed Nancy Rambusch to serve as the American representative of AMI, the Association Montessori Internationale.
  • AMS founded

    Nancy Rambusch founded the American Montessori Society with help from a group of parent-advocates.
  • Period: to

    AMS focused on establishing private schools

    During the first decade of its existence, AMS worked to keep up with a high level of interest from parents in founding Montessori schools, primarily in the private sector.
  • TIME Magazine features Montessori

    TIME Magazine published an article about the American Montessori revival that described Rambusch's work and the Whitby School. This article introduced many American parents to the concept of Montessori education and sparked further media attention.
  • Rambusch publishes Learning How to Learn

    Nancy Rambusch published her book Learning How to Learn, and this sparked further interest and dramatic growth in American Montessori schools.
  • Period: to

    AMS increasingly focused on public Montessori

    AMS shifted focus slightly to attend more to the possibility of Montessori in the public sector.
  • MACTE founded

    MACTE, the Montessori Accrediation Council for Teacher Education, was founded to ensure that Montessori training programs met certain quality standards.
  • NCMPS created

    AMS created the National Center for Montessori in the Public Sector to support equity and equal access to Montessori schools for all. This organization focuses on supporting public Montessori schools.
  • MPPI founded

    AMI and AMS came together to create the Montessori Public Policy initiative in 2013 to ensure that Montessorians have a voice in creating education policy.