Hill attended a Montessori program for one year when she was 4 years old. Decades later, she asked her mother, a retired teacher, why she didn’t keep her in the Montessori program.
“Do you know what she told me?” Hill paused to let the room think for a moment. “She said that it was too expensive.”
Which is why, Hill said, what district Montessori teachers do for families is tremendous.
Providing Montessori programs in Dallas ISD gives students opportunities that they may not otherwise have had, especially in the public sector, she said.
During the ceremony, the teachers received pins and certificates recognizing their Montessori credentialing, honoring their commitment to student‑centered education. Each one completed over 300 hours of Montessori Accreditation Council for Teacher Education-accredited training, plus a nine‑month practicum. This training is funded by the district as part of its efforts to increase the number of credentialed Montessori teachers.
Rafael Ibarra, a Montessori teacher at Prestonwood Montessori at E.D. Walker and a Teacher of the Year for Magnet/Choice nominee, said that it was a rigorous two-year training.
“I went through the lower elementary and upper elementary training,” he said. “It was during the summer and every other Saturday. It was 40 hour weeks of a certain content, a certain subject, and we had to write a lot of papers, but it was a great experience.”
Dallas ISD is growing a powerful Montessori pipeline that gives families more educational choices.
In Montessori, classrooms are multi‑age and child‑centered. Students choose their work, move from concrete materials to abstract concepts, and take ownership of their learning. Educators are organized into three key levels: primary, which serves pre-K and kindergarten; lower elementary, which includes first through third grades; and upper elementary, which encompasses the older elementary students.
For many teachers, the program offers a meaningful next step in their career.
For Jeanne Elser-Smith, who taught Montessori in the private sector before joining George Bannerman Dealey Montessori Academy as a teacher, Montessori is more than a method, it’s a wonderful way to spend each day in a classroom where children are engaged, proud, and deeply connected to their learning, she said.
“We have to follow what the child is doing, regardless of their age,” she said. “It gives teachers freedom to actually meet the child where they are and move them on as far as they need to go.”
