February, 2018-
We are fresh off our attendance of the AMI Refresher Course Conference in Phoenix and had great conversations and connections while there! I can’t believe its been over 2 months that we met in Alexandria to present TMN with the Montessori Leaders Collaborative!

We continue to make progress and of course it is slow at times as we manage those little things called full time jobs but progress regardless. I heard many positives about Trust For Learning and the progress that has been made bringing together AMI, AMS. The Trust For Learning and Montessori Leaders Collaborative hired Neimand Collaborative to conduct extensive research regarding Montessori. They concluded a year long research project that basically states everyone wants Montessori education they just don’t connect Montessori terminology with what they want!

Also, that teachers are the lead point of contact and should be the ambassadors to the parents. Rich’s message to the AMI folks at the closing keynote was fantastic. And Lynne Lawrence pushed everyone to weigh in on how they can help the bold goals cause…so timing continues to be right for The Montessori Network! Also, all of these findings and bold goals will be made available when the AMI folks send out info packet following the conference.

UPDATES - Summary

• Attended the AMI refresher in Phoenix and connected with a variety of folks…also got a good feel for the conference layout, flow and ways to capture workshops, keynotes etc.

• Connections and conversations at AMI Refresher

• Mary Ellen Kordas – AMS Board President & Tim Purnell, new Executive Director at AMS…Mary Ellen wants us to attend AMS Board Meeting…how cool is that to even type that AMS personnel attended part of AMI conference.
• Michelle Shane- President of Montessori Administrators Association…very good conversation…she wanted to know what voice we were not connecting with or who we needed to hear from. She thinks The Montessori Network is a great idea…asked if we could be patient as they are trying to bring together MAA, AMI EAA, and others
• Matt Hillis – MAA and marketing, Head of School Bergamo in CA…
• Spoke briefly with Rich Neimand after his closing keynote at refresher course…it was very well received and as he reiterated to me, “Montessori has to do something to get a coordinated communication effort going.”
• In general, many folks were extremely enthusiastic about the Montessori Network and are now connecting the idea with applied knowledge…are asking for website and ways to dig deeper into the concept.
• Assessing AMS Conference attendance in March…waiting to finalize next steps with AMS and Mary Ellen

• Work continues on “sizzle reel” and website.

• To look at vertical approach (Ideal Learning Network) need to connect with Reggio and Waldorf thought leaders

 
At this point we are confident that the concept and idea of TMN is good based on reactions from MLC et al. The relationships we are building are key in this entire process. I’ve mentioned this to everyone that the setup (We run it, Montessori Organizes it) can be discussed and shaped as we see fit. The goal is to help Montessori by giving teachers more tools to help them and establish the coordinated communication effort!

TMN Update- December 2017
For all of you that have been a part of this journey by supporting the idea, connecting us with other Montessorians or cheering us on, I wanted to give everyone an update after a very successful MACTE conference and meeting with the Montessori Leaders Collaborative in Alexandria, Virginia!
A brief look back at this past summer’s notables…

Summer 2017 Highlights

• July - Established Trust For Learning/Montessori Leaders Collaborative (TFL/MLC) connection (Stephanie Miller-Exec Director TFL and Marianna McCall)
• Very good feedback from TFL/MLC
• TFL/MLC thought so much of the Montessori Network idea that they connected us with the groups below and invited us to their annual MLC meeting in December: 
  • Montessori Foundation
  • Montessori for Social Justice
  • National Center for Montessori in the Public Sector (NCMPS)
  • MPPI
• August- Above groups provided great feedback

·       Additional connections in the works with: Montessori Administrators Association, MACTE and NAMTA
 
After those calls over the summer we processed the feedback, tweaked and refined the Montessori Network proposal. A few highlights:

• At its core the content that would be made available first would be conferences, workshops, refresher courses and make those available to heads of school, teachers and staff 
• We are refining the “start-up” number of schools needed to launch the network and estimating that range to be in the 500-750 schools
• Concerns surrounding AMI and AMS resisting conferences being made available on the network and taking away attendees in person would be dealt with through either putting embargo on content for a few months or not releasing conference content until a minimum number of attendees in person is met.
• Subscription costs to The Montessori Network for schools would range in cost estimates depending in number of schools subscribing. Estimate would be $750-$1500

Heading into our meeting with the MLC these were our goals:

• Goal #1- understand and gain clarification surrounding any concerns from MLC individuals and organizations they represent with regards to The Montessori Network
• Goal #2- gain MLC support of The Montessori Network initiative
• Goal #3- partner with MLC members to communicate TMN and gain insight into what they would consider to be an effective communication plan with schools and Montessori community
• Goal #4- After clarifying assumptions and an intellectually rigorous examination of ideas, schedule meeting with key AMI and AMS personnel to present and gather their feedback and questions 
• Goal #5- Gain insight from AMI, AMS, MLC members and their organizations surrounding what they consider to be key steps in initiating the TMN plan.

 
These are the headlines and takeaways from attending the MACTE conference and the MLC meeting/Q&A/feedback session:

• A good number of concerns that were expressed previously were dealt with
• Dr. Stephen Hughes (MLC member, noted presenter in Montessori community) is very excited about this concept and will help advocate
• The understanding of what OTT is, what The Montessori Network really is and the potential it has takes time for folks to comprehend or take it all in
• It was suggested that we make a video describing the Network…we call it a “sizzle reel” or movie trailer type short video to let everyone see what it looks like and how it works
• Also suggested we create “screen grabs” of what the TMN front page would look like
• The idea of going vertical has come up a few times, “The Ideal Learning Network,” would incorporate Reggio, Waldorf potentially other Trust For Learning early childhood education platforms to help TFL reach their 20 million children
• Question came up about Non-profit vs Profit approach
• Is this a Business to Business or Business to Consumer setup
• Stephanie Miller- Executive Director of Trust for Learning and head of Montessori Leaders Collaborative stated at the end of the meeting, “I was somewhat hesitant when I first heard about this but I have to say after hearing everyone's reaction today I am feeling very good about The Montessori Network and how it is developing!”

We have been working on the “sizzle reel,” and screen grab examples to help everyone get an idea of what The Montessori Network looks like. Our next steps are:

• Follow ups with AMS, AMI, MACTE
• Build sizzle reel and screen grab examples
• Consideration how to get the info in front of schools
• targeting the February AMI refresher course and March AMS Conference to hopefully have had enough time for schools, personnel, AMI and AMS to take it all in and get closer to the “ask” of the schools.

Our current consideration is how do we get this in front of the schools. Do we make the sizzle reel and explainer elements available to them as a teaser? Possibly send out a survey to some schools and try to determine interest that way after they have viewed the sizzle reel?
As I’ve mentioned before these topics are much more enjoyable to discuss in person over spirits of choice but the steps we made over the past few weeks have been significant! Very exciting to say the least with lots more work to be done!
Any and all suggestions or feedback is encouraged! Hope everyone has a great holiday!