Program Pathways
Interested in earning your Montessori Secondary Teaching Credential?
CMStep now offers two pathways to help you achieve your goal: a Low-Residency and a High-Residency pathway. Both lead to the same result—an AMS Secondary I-II Credential—through a combination of in-person and online coursework.
Application Deadlines
- Low-Residency Cohort 6, Section 1 (Cincinnati, Ohio): June 6, 2025
Applications for Low-Residency Cohort 1 (Barcelona, Spain)** and High-Residency Cohort 19 (Cincinnati, Ohio) will open in Fall 2025.
*CMStep is an Applicant in Good Standing for its Secondary I-II courses in Barcelona, Spain 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. CMStep has also applied for affiliation of its Secondary I-II courses in Barcelona, Spain by the American Montessori Society (AMS). We are happy to report that CMStep received initial accreditation from MACTE and affiliation by AMS for its Secondary I-II courses in Cincinnati, OH in March 2007. Since then, CMStep has maintained continuous MACTE accreditation and AMS affiliation for this location and all additional locations served. **Enrollment incurs an additional location fee of $300, due at time of application.
See our Pacing Guides for the full academic calendars.
High-Residency
In-Person Coursework
- In-Person Summer Coursework: 8 weeks total, spread over 2 summers (5 weeks in Summer 1, 3 weeks in Summer 2)
- Fall Intensive: 5 days
Online Coursework
- 1 Prerequisite Course (See “Prerequisites” Below)
- Winter Intensive: 5 days
- Mindfulness Minimester: 2 weeks in November – December
- Monthly Practicum Check-Ins: 2 mandatory sessions
Prerequisites
- The Overview Course: 40 hours, accelerated track and year-long track options available
- Pretraining readings listed here
Application Deadline: TBD
High-Residency Cohort 19 applications will be available Fall 2025.
Training Begins: TBD
High-Residency Cohort 19 applications will be available Fall 2025. Training will begin Summer 2026.
Low-Residency
In-Person Coursework
- In-Person Summer Coursework: 16 days, spread over 2 summers (11 days in Summer 1, 5 days in Summer 2)
- Fall Intensive: 3 days
Online Coursework
- Virtual, synchronous Summer Coursework: 4 days, spread over 2 summers (2 days at the end of Summer 1, 2 days at the end of Summer 2)
- 2 Prerequisite Courses (See “Prerequisites” Below)
- Regular online coursework organized into four-week chunks called Minimesters: 25 hours per Minimester, 9 Minimesters total
- Mindfulness Minimester: 2 weeks in November – December
- Semi-Weekly Practicum Zoom Sessions following Summer 1
Prerequisites
- The Overview Course: 40 hours, accelerated track and year-long track options available
- Introduction to Secondary Montessori: 40 hours, paced 6-week long course
- Pretraining readings listed here
Application Deadline: June 6, 2025
Please email after the deadline to see if space is still available.
Training Begins: June 8, 2025
Online coursework begins with the Introduction to Secondary Montessori course. If you have already completed the course, please make sure to mark this off on your application. You may formally begin online coursework with Minimester I. In-person summer training will be in 2026.
Not sure yet?
Our prerequisite courses are also available as stand-alone professional development. Click here to learn more or to register for these individual courses. And don’t worry—if you take one now and later decide to enroll in the Secondary I-II Credential Program, the cost of these courses will be credited toward your total CMStep tuition.
It was paced well, it was organized beautifully, it spiraled and we kept getting deeper and deeper in our understanding of what Montessori looked like at the secondary level. I thought the variety in the guides was phenomenal too - backgrounds, experiences, subject areas, expertise - we had so many opportunities to learn from people 'in the field'.
~ Amy Norton, Low-Residency Cohort 2
