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The Edward Harden Mansion in Sleepy Hollow, NY, home to the first U.S. Montessori school in 1911 -
Dr. Montessori spoke to a standing-room only audience at Carnegie hall. -
Nancy McCormick was searching for a new way to educate young children. She attended the tenth Montessori International Congress in Paris, where she met Mario Montessori. He encouraged her to take coursework in Montessori Education and bring Montessori to the United States. Nancy McCormick Rambusch embraces the idea and within a few years began teaching Montessori classes to her own children in her New Your apartment. -
In 1956 the Rambusch family moved to Greenwich, CT where she became involved with group of deeply invested and prominent families. -
in 1958 the Whitby School was founded. Nancy McCormick.
It was the first Montessori School in America since the initial flurry of interest in the early 20th century. Rambusch was selected as the head of school. -
In 1959, Mario Montessori appointed Nancy Rambusch as the US representative of AMI -
In 1960, Nancy Rambusch founded the American Montessori Society. She had the support of parent-advocates. She was the first President of AMS. -
In 1961, Time magazine featured Rambusch, Whitby School, and the American Montessori revival in its May 12 issue. Parents turned to AMS for advice on starting schools and study groups.[6] Additional publicity in the media, including Newsweek, the New York Times, and the Saturday Evening Post. -
The publication of Nancy Rambusch's book, Learning How to Learn, led to growth in the number of American Montessori schools and students. -
With the AMS/AMI split - the AMS administrative affairs were in chaos and the organization was in danger of disintegrating. Cleo Monson was hired as the Executive Secretary - and brought the organization from the brink. -
In June of that year, Nancy McCormick Rambusch resigned as president of AMS and embarked on a distinguished career in children’s education. She continued to be a prominent voice in the American Montessori movement until her death in 1994. -
AMI withdrew its recognition of AMS as a Montessori society, and from that point to the present AMS has existed independently of AMI. Mario wrote a long letter answering questions being asked by American Montessorians. He explained the split as being about purity of pedagogy and maintained that Nancy Rambusch was a good person and following the path she felt strongly about. -
In 1967, the US Patent Trademark Trial and Appeal Board ruled that "the term 'Montessori' has a generic and/or descriptive significance." -
In 1973, Cleo Monson was named AMS's first National Director. -
The Montessori Accreditation Council for Teacher Education (MACTE), founded in 1995, is dedicated to improving academic degree and certificate programs for Montessori professional educators who teach and lead in schools at the Infant and Toddler through Secondary II levels and to assure the public of their quality. -
In 2012, AMS launched an initiative called the National Center for Montessori in the Public Sector, which assists with the growth and sustainability of Montessori programs in public, charter, and magnet schools across the country. The director is Keith Whitescarver, EdD -
It was in this context that AMI/USA and AMS formed MPPI in 2013 to be the unified voice in advocacy and a platform for coordination of public policy efforts. Since then, MPPI has formed and supported Montessori advocacy coalitions in 40 states.