Dual-Language Montessori rises in Phoenix
By David Ayer
A small district launches and sustains an important model
A small but growing dual-language district Montessori program in the heart of Phoenix, Arizona is poised for big expansion next year.
Osborn School District #8 is a district of 6 schools serving about 2600 students in the center of Phoenix. Over the last four years, a remarkable program has sprouted and flourished at the district’s Montecito Elementary school. To learn more about the story, I spoke with Abby Potter-Davis, District Chief Officer for Equity and Learning, and Jill Singh, District Preschool Coordinator.
It all started with some Montessori cross-pollination. In 2019, some Montessori teachers came to Osborn interested in expanding public Montessori there. Superintendent Michael Robert had a Montessori background, and was open to the idea.
Singh, who knew little about Montessori at the time, told me about speaking with him:
“When Robert, who used to be my principal, said he was ‘thinking about doing this Montessori thing’ I though, ‘Oh no, I’m not doing more, I’m not doing more!’ And he just says, ‘let’s talk about it,’ and I said ‘I don’t want to talk about because if we talk about it I’m going to want to do it.’ But I sat down in his office and when I walked out I was thinking, ‘Oh, I’m going to Montessori training.’”
Singh had taught kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd grade with Roberts as principal, and was a reading specialist and dual language teacher as well, but didn’t know much about Montessori. “The only thing that I knew was that when I taught kindergarten dual-language I had children coming to me from another public Montessori and I just remember thinking, ‘Wow, these kids are coming reading and knowing all of this stuff already. I just want to make sure that they are appropriately challenged because they’re coming to me with this amazing set of skills already. I didn’t know a whole lot, but I knew that the children really did a lot for themselves and just sort of guided themselves in a way through their learning.”
The district sponsored two teachers for training at the Southwest Institute for Montessori Studies in Phoenix and Singh was slated to begin her Elementary training there. In the fall of 2019, the wheels were set in motion.
Then 2020 rolled around, bringing the global pandemic with it, and the wheels came off. “We tucked those ideas and that work aside.” But Singh did go on with her training over the next three summers, and found it transformative. “It was the hardest work I’ve ever done in my life, and at the same time the most thrilling and fulfilling. It was literally blood sweat and tears but it was amazing. It was amazing. I feel like if I could have learned math via Montessori as a child, that would have been a different child.”
The Montessori program launched in the fall of 2021 with a single Primary classroom led by a veteran Primary teacher who was already state-licensed. Arizona does not provide funding for three- and four-year-olds, so to have a full age-range, the program charges tuition for those ages. Some families are able to get support from state childcare subsidies. Entry to the program for five-year-olds is by lottery, and younger children already enrolled do get preference in the lottery.
A lower elementary followed in 2022, and in 2023, a second, dual-language primary was added. Osborn school district operates a robust dual-language (Spanish and English) program, so dual-language Montessori was a natural fit.
Now, in the middle of the 23-24 school year, the program is poised for even greater expansion. Phoenix has a lot of dual-language programs but nearby Spanish immersion school is closing and many of those families want to continue that model. Open houses have been “wildly successful,” Singh said, the school has been giving tours “non-stop.” The school will be adding two more dual-language primary classrooms and a second lower elementary, and if we can enroll enough elementary students we hope to start an upper elementary classroom, (The plan is to build to extend the elementaries to three-year age groupings as the school grows.)
Challenges remain as always. “Osborn is in the heart of central Phoenix where some amazing new developments are happening. But these high rise apartments are not always family friendly in terms of budget, so many of our Osborn families are just being pushed out of their neighborhood,” Singh said. New residents may eventually have children who could attend the school, but that doesn’t replace school-age children who are in the program now. Still, Singh added, “I just appreciate that there is Montessori, there’s an English option, there’s a dual-language option and it’s all in the public sector. It’s beautiful and we’re trying every night, and we know that there will be bumps along the way but we we’re working hard to make it make it happen.”
David worked in private Montessori for more than twenty years as a parent, three-to-six year-old and adolescent teacher, administrator, writer, speaker, and advocate. In 2016 he began working with the National Center for Montessori in the Public Sector. David lives in Portland, Oregon.