Cincinnati has been a leader in Montessori education in the U.S., and Xavier University’s Montessori Lab School has been at the center of its growth for decades. The school and its teachers educated thousands of students in the Montessori tradition, and also served as a training ground and source of teachers, furthering the development of Montessori education in Cincinnati and beyond.
But Xavier announced in November that it will transition its program to a more traditional educational approach, abandoning the Montessori philosophy that it had practiced since the '60s. “In Fall 2025, the lab school will transition into a true laboratory model in ever closer alignment with Xavier’s Jesuit Catholic mission,” the university said in making the announcement. The transition will make for a better engagement with budding teachers and administrators in the university’s School of Education “by incorporating a range of pedagogical approaches,” the university said.
But parents in the tight-knit Montessori community have been disappointed in the decision, and are searching for options to continue educating their children in the innovative teaching method. Some are working on a solution that would make Maria Montessori herself proud: starting a new school.
A group of parents is organizing the Martha McDermott Montessori School, named after an educator and Xavier faculty member who was instrumental in developing and expanding Montessori education in Cincinnati and worldwide.
Organizers of the new school have formed a not-for-profit organization, named an executive board, created a
website, and are seeking donations to support the project. The transition of the Xavier school has “prompted many families in our community to urgently seek to continue its mission in a new space,” the school says on its site. “Our new institution -- the Martha McDermott Montessori School -- will exist separate from the University and require private sources of funding to succeed.”
It's unclear if the school will be up and running by the start of the 2025-2026 school year, as not only is funding required, but teachers, administrators, educational materials, and a physical space. And it’s unclear what grade levels are contemplated, as many details are still being worked out. But the idea appears to have the support of many parents who have chosen a Montessori alternative for their children’s education.
“Our community, teachers and parents are crushed,” parent Amanda Thomas-Castillo wrote on the
Xavier University Montessori Alumni and Friends Facebook page the day after Xavier’s announcement. “However, we will not go down without a fight. Our hope is that we can start a new school that instills the same values, respect and education that we all believe in.”
Partnerships are under consideration, including with Cincinnati Public Schools. Merging with other Montessori schools has been considered, but it appears the parents and teachers group prefers to transplant the Xavier Montessori culture, legacy, and tradition to a new building.
“We continue to follow multiple paths with the goal of landing together as a community of parents and teachers in a new space,” lead organizer Marta Hyland said. But, she said, “we will not release any more information regarding the new Montessori school at this time, due to the sensitive nature of some of our potential partnerships.”
The transition of Xavier’s Lab School to more traditional educational philosophies is a blow to the devoted Montessori community in Cincinnati. As a laboratory school, it’s designed to educate young students, but also provide training and education for student teachers, and develop and test new educational methods and curricula. Since 1965, its focus has been the Montessori approach, which emphasizes hands-on, experiential, collaborative learning rather than a style designed around teachers delivering facts to students.
Cincinnati holds an esteemed spot in the evolution of Montessori education in the U.S., and Xavier has been a key link in that tradition for 60 years. Cincinnati is the home of the first Montessori public school in the nation, Sands Montessori, and the program there was developed partly through training and work done at Xavier. As demand for Montessori teachers grew in the mid-70s, Cincinnati Public Schools contracted with Xavier’s teacher education program for training and student teaching.
“It’s been a leading force for Montessori education in Cincinnati,” said Audrey Bertaux, a part-time teacher at the school whose three-year-old attends preschool there. “The whole educational landscape would be different if it hadn't been for the lab school.”
The fledgling school is named for Martha McDermott, a Scottish native who joined the Xavier faculty in 1968. She and others, notably
Hilda Rothschild and
Nancy Rambusch, were instrumental in developing the first public Montessori program in Cincinnati. McDermott traveled to Italy in the ‘70s to earn her
Association Montessori Internationale certification, and returned to Cincinnati to create the first elementary class for the Xavier lab school.
Xavier was a partner in the growth and expansion of Cincinnati’s public Montessori schools, providing a steady stream of educators trained in the Montessori model.
“Xavier Montessori Lab School is considered the source for almost every Montessori teacher in at least the city if not the greater region,” says
Michael Buescher, whose two pre-teen boys attend school there. “It's been a prized asset in the educational space for the city.”
McDermott died on Nov. 5 at the age of 95. It was the same day Xavier Montessori parents received an email from the university informing them of the decision to change the school’s approach.
The lengthy email, from Xavier Provost Rachel Chrastil, cited several reasons for the university’s decision to transition the lab school, including the opportunity to provide a broader range of educational training and approaches to Xavier students majoring in education. She also cited financial issues, which had been ongoing. “For many years, the lab school's finances have not been self-supporting,” she wrote. Tuition to the reimagined lab school will increase, she said.
“The new format will introduce changes to the classroom environment that differ from the traditional Montessori approach,” Chrastil wrote. “We … understand that for some families, any departure from Montessori methods will be unwelcome.”
The decision has left families who are committed to the Montessori style of education looking for options for next school year. Bertaux and her family haven’t made any decisions yet. They are waiting to see how the new school develops and are also considering possibilities available through Cincinnati Public. But they want to continue Montessori education. “We would love to continue to be a part of the community,” she says.
It's the same for the Bueschers. “We're actively trying to figure out what our options are,” Buescher says.
In the Cincinnati tradition of Montessori innovation, one of those options could be the new Martha McDermott Montessori School.