The Nido & Toddler Montessori Teacher Certification is a hybrid program consisting of online seminars, self-paced independent assignments, in-classroom practicum, and a 3-week in-person in-residency at one of Prepared Montessorian Institute (PMI)’s training sites.

The program prepares you to expertly implement Montessori educational principles in the classroom. Montessori Teachers prepare carefully to implement the Montessori Methodology with knowledge of child development, pedagogical practices, and nuanced decision-making. Our certification program offers you distinct ways to learn, practice, implement Montessori's principles, and receive certification from an institution that is accredited by MACTE (Montessori Accreditation Council of Teacher Education) and recognized in many places around the globe.

This program is for anyone starting out in the education industry, such as school teachers, educators, and homeschoolers, who seeks to become a certified Montessori educator.

The certification program requires a time commitment of approximately 800 hours. It typically takes between one and two years to complete, depending on your personal circumstances and how rapidly you are able to complete the program requirements.

Prepared Montessorian Institute is accredited by the Montessori Accreditation Council of Teacher Education (MACTE). Known and respected across the world, it is the only accrediting body for Montessori teacher education programs recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.

The certification program is organized into three phases—Foundational Studies, Continuing Studies, and Capstone. In each phase, there are 4 major types of experiences: 1) online or in-person seminars; 2) independent studies of the curriculum; 3) in-classroom practicum; and 4) assessments. Throughout all three phases, you can also attend weekly Open Community Workshops online designed to provide guidance for your independent work.

Onramp is the initial onboarding phase that will enable you to start our certification program anytime. During this phase, you will complete some asynchronous work at your own pace and join a 60-minute online session to get familiar with the structure of the training, onboard to our learning management systems, and get started with the curriculum studies (i.e. Montessori Album Study) and classroom observation components of the training program.

After completing the Onramp phase, you will begin Phase 1. Foundational Studies, which consists of a series of online seminars, Montessori Album Study, 20 hours of classroom observations, and assessments.

The Foundational Studies Seminars are offered all year round with 2 standard schedules—daytime and evening. The daytime schedule meets every Tuesday and Thursday between 12 to 3:30 pm Eastern Time, and the evening schedule meets every Tuesday and Thursday between 7 to 10:30pm Eastern time. Each seminar series runs for 20 days over a period of 2.5 months. Depending on when you start your program and complete the Onramp phase, you can choose to begin your Foundational Studies seminars with the next available cohort that suits your schedule.

Montessori Album Study is the most critical component of your training. The Montessori Album is essentially a collection of lesson and activity that makes up the Montessori curriculum for children between 0 to 3 years old. In the Nido & Toddler program, there are 3 Montessori Albums with about 200 lessons. Each lesson has written and/or video instructions by experts on how to deliver the presentation. As a PMI learner, you will access all the lessons digitally on our proprietary learning management system. You will engage with Montessori Album Study from Day 1 of your training and throughout your certification program where you will independently study each lesson with our resources, practice how to deliver each lesson with the appropriate Montessori materials, and complete online assessments to prove your mastery of the lessons. This structured process of self-study will guide you through the scope and sequence of the Montessori curriculum and help you master each Montessori “presentation.” We offer weekly Open Community Workshops online all year round for you to join a group of learners and a PMI coach to practice materials together.

In this phase, you will also begin your classroom observations. During Onramp, you’ll be introduced to the principles of observation and begin your first classroom observation assignment. 20 hours of classroom observations are required in Phase 1.

You will begin Phase 2. Continuing Studies after completing all the requirements in Phase 1. In this phase, you will build upon learnings from Phase 1 and gain more knowledge on Montessori theory and classroom leadership, gain more practice with Montessori curriculum and classroom observation, and even start your practice teaching in a working Montessori classroom.

The Continuing Studies Seminars consists of 2 seminar courses—Montessori Theory and Micro-Observation & Classroom Leadership. Each seminar course has 10 standalone online sessions and assignments that can be taken in any order. We offer 4 series of the seminars each year, which means whenever you are ready, you can jump in to start taking your seminars.

You will also continue with your Montessori Album Studies and classroom observations in this Phase. By the end of Phase 2, you will complete all 50 hours of your classroom observations

The most exciting part of Phase 2 is to start your practice teaching! You may be working in a Montessori classroom already or you may be teaching in a Montessori classroom for the first time in your life. Regardless of where you are, you can start tracking your practice teaching hours as soon as you enter this phase. 160 hours of practice teaching are required in Phase 2. During your practice teaching, you will have 4 practice teaching reviews conducted by one of our field consultants for assessment and feedback. At least one of these visits will be in-person; the others will be remote. It's possible that, depending on your location, you may need a consultant to travel to you. The costs of traveling for the consultant (i.e., transportation, lodging, food) will be on your own expenses but we’ll cap it at $750 total. In Phase 2, two practice teaching reviews are required.

This is the last phase of your program, which consists of a 3-week in-person in-residency at one of our training sites and the completion of your Montessori Album Study and practice teaching.

During the 3 weeks, you will engage in an immersive learning experience with other fellows and your instructors. We study and discuss child development, partnership with parents, and advanced Montessori presentation skills. We will also conduct oral assessments during the In-Residency.

We offer the in-residency workshop several times throughout the year and in different locations so you can plan for the in-residency opportunity most convenient for you.

Current Locations:

• Lake Forest, California: available to all learners

• Chantilly, Virginia: only available to learners whose tuition is fully sponsored by their employers

• Austin, Texas: only available to learners whose tuition is fully sponsored by their employers

You will also complete your Montessori Album Study and the remaining practice teaching (160 hours) and 2 practice teaching reviews. Once you complete all the requirements, you are ready to graduate and become certified Montessori educator!

• Education Background: High School Diploma or GED and above

• Material Access: Access to the full set of Montessori materials for aged 0 to 3 years old

• Practicum Site: Access to a Montessori classroom that meets the following pracitcum site criteria:

1. Is fully equipped with Montessori and other appropriate materials

2. Runs an authentic Montessori curriculum

3. Contains a group of 6 or more mix-aged children in the program associated age group

$5000 for the entire certification training (excluding travel and technology costs).

If you need to travel to your practicum site or in-residency, the costs are your responsibility. Any supplies and technology need to access the training (i.e., laptop, internet, webcam) are also your responsibility. Once in-person student teaching resumes, adult learners are required to have at least one field visit by a Prepared Montessorian consultant. Adult learners will be responsible for the expenses for this field visit (travel, accommodations, meals, etc).

Applicants can request either or both a scholarship and payment plan. Prepared Montessorian Institute evaluates applicant's responses and references in each cohort to determine the pool of applicants that are requesting scholarships and subsequently, determine if and how much of a scholarship is awarded. Payment options are as follows:

• Pay in full within the first month of training

• Pay in 5 installments

• a. Pay first installment prior to start of training in order to be onboarded into training

• b. Pay subsequent monthly payments in the 4 consecutive months following the start month

• c. Installment fee of $10 (US) added to each monthly installment

• Pay in 10 installments

• a. Pay first installment prior to start of training in order to be onboarded into training

• b. Pay subsequent monthly payments in the 9 consecutive months following the start month

• c. Installment fee of $10 (US) added to each monthly installment

Details of financial package will be outlined in training offer if accepted into program. You will need to accept those payment terms as part of your acceptance into the training.