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. The upcoming cohorts will have in-person summer coursework in 2025 and 2026.
Application Deadlines
- High-Residency Cohort 19 (Cincinnati, Ohio): April 1, 2025
- Low-Residency Cohort 5, Section 2 (Cincinnati, Ohio): January 17, 2025
- Low-Residency Cohort 1, Section 2 (Barcelona, Spain)**: January 17, 2025
- Low-Residency Cohort 1 (Durham, North Carolina)*: January 17, 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.
Explore the Pacing Guides to view the academic calendars for all CMStep cohorts.
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, fully self-paced
- Pretraining readings listed here
Application Deadline: April 1, 2025
Applications are open until April 1, 2025 to ensure that the minimum cohort size of 12 is met.
Training Begins: June 22, 2025
This is the start of the orientation for the Summer 1 In-Person Coursework.
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, fully self-paced
- Introduction to Secondary Montessori: 40 hours, paced 6-week long course
- Pretraining readings listed here
Application Deadline: January 17, 2025
Please email after the deadline to see if space is still available.
Training Begins: January 19, 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.
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
