Montessori Makers Group
The Residency
A teacher preparation program built on the belief that Montessori educators deserve rigorous, respectful, and deeply practical training, at a price that matches the calling and not the bank account.
Not enrolling yet · Awaiting Illinois state authorization
Where We Stand
Montessori Makers Residency is not enrolling yet.
We are waiting on state authorization from the Illinois Board of Higher Education before we begin instruction. Illinois requires a Permit of Approval before a program like ours can operate, and our application remains pending. We still need to secure an Illinois instructional site and submit the required facility and occupancy documentation. The site must be ready to operate when approval is granted. No instructional venue or start date is confirmed.
We will not enroll residents or begin instruction before authorization is granted. The adults who enroll in this Residency are working teachers making a real professional leap, often paying with their own money or their district’s, and they are trusting that the credential they are working toward is worth something. That trust is the whole product. We are not going to spend it to start a few months earlier.
We are working to complete these outstanding requirements before authorization can be granted.
We are not accepting applications, waitlist registrations, or payments while state authorization is pending.
Why the Residency Exists
Montessori teacher preparation has a problem. It is expensive, inaccessible, and built for a demographic that does not reflect the children and communities that need Montessori most. The people doing the most important work in Montessori classrooms right now, paraeducators, teaching assistants, career changers, public school teachers navigating under-resourced environments, are the same people who cannot access traditional credentialing. The cost is too high. The schedule is impossible.
This planned teacher preparation program is for educators who are already doing the work. It is designed around the complete Primary curriculum of 224 lessons and a paid classroom practicum. Enrollment and instruction will not begin before Illinois authorization is granted. Employment and placements are not guaranteed. No $15,000 tuition bills. No program that treats equity as an add-on.
The field does not get to keep deciding who is qualified to teach Montessori. The Residency is changing that.
Who This Is For
If you have been working in a Montessori classroom for years without a credential because the cost was impossible, this is for you.
If you are a paraeducator or teaching assistant who knows the materials, knows the children, and has never been given a pathway to lead your own classroom, this is for you.
If you are a public or charter school teacher who was handed a Montessori classroom and told to figure it out without real preparation, this is for you.
If you are a career changer with deep roots in your community who chose Montessori because you believe in what it can do for children who look like the children you grew up with, this is for you.
The Residency was not built for the educator who already has every door open. It was built for the educator who has been standing outside the door for years, doing the work anyway.
What Makes It Different
Six things no other program does.
Equity is the curriculum, not a module.
Every lesson has an equity aim and a neurodivergence section built into its structure as standard elements, not additions.
A paid practicum model.
The planned practicum is designed around paid classroom work while completing supervised hours. Employment and placements are not guaranteed.
No other program does this.
Primary residents complete a five-lesson Second-Plane Bridge strand that orients them to where their students are going next.
Behavior and literacy are built in.
A dedicated Behavior Support strand covers trauma-informed practice and restorative approaches; the Language strand integrates structured literacy.
Your Cohort Guide knows you.
The same experienced guide who facilitates your twice-monthly seminars supervises your practicum. By the end they know your strengths, your context, and your formation as a guide.
Who Leads It
Two people in your corner the whole time.
Primary Cohort Guide
Christine McClelland, M.A.
An AMI certified primary guide with a decade in the lead role. She runs your seminars, reviews your album, and supervises your practicum.
Founder
Hannah Richardson
Founder of Montessori Makers Group. She built the Residency for the educators the field left standing outside the door, and checks in with every resident at the practicum midpoint.
Included With Your Credential
The credential is the beginning, not the end.
A Field Guide
Every graduate receives a complimentary 12-month Montessori Makers Field Guide subscription, with lesson walkthroughs, crisis protocols, and a reflection coach for your first year in your own classroom.
A placement pathway
A planned connection to MatchHub for future graduates. There is no current Residency graduate pipeline, and employment or placement is not guaranteed.
Third Period
A monthly, peer-led alumni gathering that continues after you finish. You complete the Residency. You do not finish Third Period.
From the Founder
Why I built this.
I have spent my career inside Montessori classrooms, schools, and organizations, and watched extraordinary educators do this work without credentials because no credentialing program would have them. All of them stood outside the door doing the work anyway.
I built the Residency because that arrangement is unacceptable. It is rigorous because the work requires it. It is paid because residents are not free labor. It is equity-centered because Montessori without equity is just an aesthetic. If you have been doing the work without the credential, I see you. The door is open. Walk through.
Hannah Richardson, Founder, Montessori Makers Group
The Montessori Makers Residency is an Applicant in Good Standing for its Primary (3–6) level with the Montessori Accreditation Council for Teacher Education (MACTE).
Applicant in Good Standing status in no way determines the outcome of the accreditation decisions by MACTE.
MACTE is the only U.S. Department of Education-recognized accreditor of Montessori educator preparation. The curriculum, faculty qualifications, practicum design, and assessment systems are developed in alignment with MACTE’s Quality Principles. Accreditation has not been granted and is not guaranteed.
MACTE, 420 Park Street, Charlottesville, VA 22902 · macte.org
When We Open
You will hear it here first.
Enrollment opens once our Illinois state authorization is granted. We do not begin before we are cleared to. Applications, waitlist registrations, and payments are closed until then.