Accreditation

“The real preparation for education is the study of one’s self. The training of the teacher who is to help life is something far more than the learning of ideas. It includes the training of character; it is a preparation of the spirit. ”
— Maria Montessori

Winfield is one of only a small handful of accredited Montessori schools in the entire state of Maine and the only one in Cumberland County. We are very proud of this accomplishment, as that designation has specific meaning for how we conduct ourselves as a school, but it also brings with it a set of assurances and meaning for our families.

Why did we pursue accreditation?

Winfield was first accredited in 2001 as a necessary step in opening the Maine Montessori Institute, a Montessori Teacher Education Program operating at Winfield until it suspended operations in 2016. There are several credible accrediting bodies for Montessori schools, including the International Montessori Council (IMC) and the Association Montessori International (AMI), but we chose the American Montessori Society (AMS) as our accrediting body.

Accreditation is ultimately both a reflective and a validation process. It requires us to fully review all aspects of the school, ask why we do the things we do, and ensure that those choices and the processes we have in place are aligned with authentic Montessori practice. If we find anything that doesn’t ring true or that we can’t justify, we make adjustments. See the section below for more details about the accreditation process.

We maintain our accreditation because we find it meaningful and important to continuously recommit ourselves to truly following the principles that Maria Montessori established, including those of reflection, preparation, and constant growth and improvement.

The reality is that Maria Montessori never trademarked any of her materials or her name. As a result, anyone can freely apply the label “Montessori” to toys, programming, and childcare settings regardless of the training of the teachers, the curriculum they follow, or the materials they use.

For Winfield, accreditation is a public statement of what we feel it means when we call ourselves a Montessori school. We are proud to be a model Montessori school for others and take our position seriously by always trying to represent best practice in Montessori and quality early childhood education. 

What goes into the accreditation process?

Accreditation is a process that renews on a seven year cycle. Our most recent re-accreditation completed in December of 2022.

The process begins with a deeply reflective self-study, which is itself a year-long process. We look at each of nine accreditation standards laid out by AMS, and provide documented evidence of how we meet or exceed each standard at Winfield. We report on everything from specifics of our implementation of the Montessori philosophy in the classroom, to staffing, to how we document and report learner outcomes, to Winfield’s facilities and finances in order to validate that we continue to be an operationally sound business. You can read more about the AMS accreditation standards here.

While some schools approach writing the self-study purely as an administrative function, here at Winfield, the entire community - the Admin team, teachers, parents, and children - each have a voice in our reflection process, and have insights captured in the self-study.

Once we submit our final report, it is reviewed by AMS. Their approval of this report is essentially a stamp of approval that the school described in the report meets the standards that they have laid out for accreditation. That is not the conclusion of the process, though, as we are then visited by a team of verifiers who spend three days observing our classrooms in action and meet and talking with our constituents. Their role is to validate that the school that we described in our self study is the real Winfield. It is one thing to describe in writing how one might accomplish a high standard, but the visiting team, which is made up of credentialed Montessori educators from other accredited schools, are on-site, observing and meeting with constituents to validate that everything is truly in place.

Only at the conclusion of this process do we reach the final step, which is being recommended by the visiting team to AMS for full accreditation. With that recommendation, the AMS Board votes to issue our re-accreditation.

At Winfield, we look at this issuance of our re-accreditation as first step of our next round of re-accreditation. We take pride in reflecting on a particular aspect of our practice every year, not just every seven. We read current research and trends in education and use these ideas as a starting point for our reflection and questioning. These internal studies and projects form the basis of our next self-study.

What does accreditation mean for our families?

At its heart, accreditation is a stamp of approval that we are committed to upholding the highest standards for an authentic Montessori experience for our students and their families. It brings with it the peace of mind that you know that the investment that you are making in your child’s education is a sound one.

On a more concrete basis, the things that you and your child experience every day at Winfield are reflections of the accreditation process. Your child’s portfolio that you receive each year, the continuum of goals that you review during parent-teacher conferences, the guarantee that there are credentialed Montessori teachers in every classroom - these, and so many other things are all items that are validated by the accreditation process, and which contribute to the day to day experience at Winfield.

Does Winfield have any other quality measurement designations?

In additional to being accredited by AMS, Winfield is:

Each of these designations bring with them their own set of regulatory requirements and continuous improvement measurement. You can view details on each of these through the links above.