MPPI and BUILD: Broadening Policy for Mixed Delivery: Incorporating Montessori Programs in State Quality Improvement Systems

This past January, after nearly two years of conversations and collaboration, MPPI and the BUILD Initiative co-published a paper providing information and suggestions on how states can accommodate high quality Montessori programs within their Quality Improvement Systems (QIS), Workforce Registries, and Child Care Licensing. “The BUILD Initiative helps state leaders create policies, infrastructure, and connections across agencies and organizations to advance comprehensive, high-quality, and equitable programs, services, and supports for young children, their families, and communities. They help leaders think and act systemically to address disparities and expand their networks to enhance their capacity to take action. BUILD engages in all of these supports in order to help build equitable early childhood systems. “ (BUILD Initiative, n.d.)

MPPI had established a relationship with BUILD’s Early Care and Education, Quality Improvement Initiatives Director, Deb Mathias, by attending their annual meeting over time, and also invited her as a speaker at our 2018 conference. We intermittently engaged in conversations about challenges Montessori programs faced with state QIS’s which eventually resulted in the proposal of a co-published paper.

MPPI brought the perspective of challenges that Montessori schools face within these state policies and therefore wrote the drafts and collaborated on editing with BUILD and over the course of several more months, Broadening Policy for Mixed Delivery: Incorporating Montessori Programs in State Quality Improvement Systems came to life. Deb brought her extensive knowledge of the broader Early Childhood Education community and a strong sense of what would be easily digestible language for policy makers. The paper was published and accompanied by a webinar hosted by BUILD and moderated by MPPI, with panelists from three states MPPI and our state advocates have worked with extensively to establish Montessori friendly QIS policies. The webinar drew nearly 500 registrants representing 46 states and has since been watched by many more. MPPI and our state advocacy leads have engaged in many productive conversations since the release of the paper and webinar.

Check out the recording of the webinar here.