More than a hundred years ago Maria Montessori began to attract attention for her approach to educating children that aimed to build off the natural curiosity and impulse to learn innate in humans. Today thousands of Montessori schools exist around the world, and the philosophy has remained a darling of progressive educators. But Montessori’s direct work and many of her writings pertain to educating young children up through elementary school, so it is harder to find high schools, especially public ones, that have adopted the model.

‘Here is an essential principle of education: to teach details is to bring confusion; to establish the relationship between things is to bring knowledge.’Maria Montessori, ‘From Childhood to Adolescence’

The first public Montessori high school in the U.S. started over 20 years ago out of the work of a group of middle school students who had been educated in the Montessori system their whole lives and wanted a high school option. In their eighth-grade year every student worked on a “Change Project.” This small group of students researched Montessori’s writings on education, focusing on what she said about adolescents, and designed the broad strokes for what a high school could look like. They drew heavily on their own experiences as Montessori students as well. They presented their plan before the Cincinnati Board of Education and inspired the adults on the board and in the room. Shortly thereafter, Clark Montessori High School was born.

Click here to continue reading.