Education for Change

Maria Montessori International Academy is committed to providing the best education to children through Montessori methods.  We believe that a Montessori education allows a child to flourish and achieve to his or her highest potential.  In order to meet the needs of our growing family as well as our mission of building great Montessori schools in local neighborhoods, MMIA has created MMIA’s Education for Change.

What is the Education for Change program?

Simply put, Education for Change is a leadership development system for attracting and retaining high performing teachers.  As the increasing teacher shortage puts a greater strain on schools, both private and public, MMIA decided to be proactive.  Education for Change provides a training ground for new teachers to learn the Montessori discipline while at our Indianapolis school.  After the initial training period, our teachers will expand into the new positions/locations available within MMIA.

children learning the montessori way

MMIA Education for Change FAQ’s

Very little.  The teachers enrolled in the Education for Change program are credentialed teachers who are learning Montessori methods and admin practices.  They are highly qualified like every other teacher and will soon be the lead teachers and admins of future MMIA classrooms.  Therefore, your child will learn in a Montessori environment with a passionate, young professional.

Absolutely!  Your child will still receive the same methods, subjects, etc. as every MMIA classroom.  Also, your child will have the same access to our Summer Camps, music and arts education, and foundation of Play.

Colleges and universities have experienced a decrease in enrollment into the teaching profession.  Further, there are many teachers who are near retirement.  This combination has left a shortage of qualified teachers.  Even more so, Montessori certification is a difficult process and there are few schools that have a Montessori program for their students to enroll.  Therefore, we have created Education for Change as a way to hire teachers who really want to learn the Montessori methods, get certified, and make a difference in their local communities.

For our Indy school location, we recommend all parents to apply to SSS to see if they qualify for tuition assistance.  After we receive your application, we will determine into what classroom your child will be placed, based upon availability.

To apply for SSS, please see the following section.

SSS Application Process

We encourage every prospective parent to apply for financial assistance for MMIA through our program with School and Student Services (SSS). SSS is an online financial assistance application program used by hundreds of schools across the country.  We use SSS to help us evaluate a parent’s level of need.  This is the only tool we use to determine the tuition a parent will need to pay if they do not pay full price.

Here are four key pieces of information for families wishing to apply for 2019-20 financial aid:

– Parents must fill out a Parent’s Financial Statement, or PFS.  The fee for a PFS is $51.

– A great place to being the process is the SSS Website for Parents & Families http://www.solutionsbysss.com/parents. The site has downloadable guides and a PFS workbook.

– The link to the SSS Family Portal login page (https://sssbynais.force.com/familyportal/familylogin) for completing their online application. SSS has many support documents for families and the application is in both English and Spanish should you prefer to fill it out in Spanish.

– Parent Assistance: If you have questions or need help, please call the SSS family support center at (800) 344-8328. The center offers daytime, evening, and weekend hours. You can also email sss@communitybrands.com for help.