Our Program

Secondary I-II (ages 12 – 18) Credential

Application Deadlines:

    • Low-Residency: June 7, 2024
    • High-Residency: April 1, 2025

Check out the Pacing Guides and Calendars for more scheduling information!

Interested in earning your Montessori Secondary Teaching Credential?

  • CMStep now offers two pathways to help you meet your goal: High-Residency & Low-Residency
  • Both pathways lead to the same outcome: an AMS Secondary I-II Credential
  • Our Low-Residency Cohort 5, Section 1 (Cincinnati, Ohio) is open for applications until June 7, 2024. Online coursework starts June 9, 2024 & In-Person Summer 1 starts June 29, 2025
  • Our High-Residency Cohort 19 (Cincinnati, Ohio) is open for applications until April 1, 2025 to ensure that the minimum cohort size of 12 is met. In-person Summer 1 starts June 2025. 

High-Residency

In-person training time:
  • Summer Intensives: 8 weeks, spread over two summers (5 weeks in Summer 1, 3 weeks in Summer 2)
  • Fall Intensive: Thursday through Monday (5 days)
Online coursework expectations:
  • Digital winter intensive (5 days)
  • Practicum Zoom sessions (3 sessions required, offered monthly)
  • The Overview Course, a prerequisite required for anyone who does not already possess an EL I-II Montessori credential (40 hours, fully self-paced)
  • Mindfulness Fundamentals, required in the fall (10 hours)
Prerequisites:
  • The Overview Course, a prerequisite required for anyone who does not already possess an EL I-II Montessori credential (40 hours, fully self-paced)
  • Prerequisite readings: 3 books and 9 articles from our website

We recommend securing your required readings for Overview (2 books) before you begin. Find the reading list and pre-training work here.

Application deadline: April 1, 2025

Applications for High-Residency Cohort 19 are due April 1st, 2025 to ensure that a minimum cohort size of 12 is met. 

Training begins: June 2025

This is the start of the orientation for the courses in Cincinnati.

Low-Residency 

In-person training time:
  • Summer Intensives: 3 weeks, spread over two summers (14 days in Summer 1, 8 days in Summer 2)
  • Fall Intensive: Thursday through Monday (5 days)
Online coursework expectations:
  • Semi-weekly practicum Zoom sessions (after Summer 1 school year)
  • 9 Online Minimesters: Low-Residency participants should budget about 5 hours per week for online coursework, organized into four-week chunks called Minimesters. There is a one-week break between each Minimester. (Contact us for a more detailed schedule or check out the pacing guides here)
  • The Overview Course, a prerequisite required for anyone who does not already possess an EL I-II Montessori credential (40 hours, fully self-paced)
  • Introduction to Secondary Montessori, a prerequisite required for all Low-Residency adult learners (40 hours in 6 weeks, paced)
  • Mindfulness Fundamentals, required in the fall (10 hours)
Prerequisites:
  • The Overview Course, a prerequisite required for anyone who does not already possess an EL I-II Montessori credential (40 hours, fully self-paced)
  • Introduction to Secondary Montessori, a prerequisite required for all Low-Residency adult learners (40 hours in 6 weeks, paced) 
  • Admissions interview with Steph Bijoch and/or Katie Keller Wood (rolling, scheduled when the application process is initiated)

We also recommend securing your required readings for Overview (2 books) and Minimesters 1-3 (4 books) before you begin. Find your reading list and pre-training work here.

Complete application deadline: June 7, 2024

The application must be completed in full, including the enrollment fee. After this deadline, please contact us.

Prerequisite coursework begins: June 2024

The online coursework begins with Introduction to Secondary Montessori, a prerequisite to the Low-Residency Minimester courses. If you have already taken our Introduction as a stand-alone course, please make sure to mark this off on your application.

Not Sure Yet?

Prerequisite and beginning courses (Introduction to Secondary Montessori and The Montessori Overview Course) can also be taken for stand-alone PD credit! Click here to learn more or sign up for these stand-alone courses. And don’t worry! If you take one or both of these courses now and then choose to enroll for in the training program, the amount paid for your PD courses will be deducted from your total CMStep tuition.