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.
Primary track begins September 8, 2026 · Founding cohort
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 is a teacher preparation program for educators who are already doing the work. Residents study the complete Primary curriculum of 224 lessons, earn their credential through a paid practicum placement in a partner school, and graduate ready to lead classrooms with the full theoretical and practical foundation the work requires. No summers away. 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.
The practicum pays.
Residents do not student teach for free. The practicum places residents in partner schools as paid guides earning a living wage while completing supervised hours.
No other program does this.
Primary residents complete a five-lesson Second-Plane Bridge strand in May 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.
The price reflects who this is for.
The Primary credential is $5,000 total with a nine-month plan of $556 per month, set deliberately to reach working educators without savings buffers.
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.
Tuition
$5,000 total. $556 a month. Or nothing.
Pay in full, choose an interest-free nine-month plan, apply for the Tuition Access Program that waives tuition for the highest structural barriers, or have your school fund it. Most residents never pay out of pocket.
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
Priority access through MatchHub, where schools filter specifically for candidates prepared through this program. Not a job board, a direct connection.
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. When accreditation is granted, graduates will hold credentials from a MACTE-accredited program.
MACTE, 420 Park Street, Charlottesville, VA 22902 · macte.org