Hillary Drinkell has been involved in Montessori education for over 30 years. From her early days of being a Montessori primary and elementary classroom teacher to a Dean, Head of School, Accreditation Director, Accreditation Commissioner, and Montessori consultant, she has come to understand and truly believe that the Montessori Method is the best method of education for all children.
Hillary’s journey started when she and her husband enrolled their two-year-old daughter into a Montessori program in Japan. As she has a background in psychology, she fully understood the developmental nature of the Montessori Method and was incredibly impressed with their daughter’s experience at the school. In fact, Hillary told her husband, “I won’t move to the USA unless there is a Montessori program close to where we are slated to move.” All things aligned and there was an amazing early childhood program 10 minutes away from their new home. Being new to the country, she decided to spend her time volunteering at the school and, of course, one thing led to another. Eventually, Hillary came away with training in early childhood and then went on to get the elementary level diploma. She consolidated her training by obtaining an M.Ed. with an emphasis in Montessori Education.
While working in Florida at NewGate School as the Dean of Elementary, the Head of School tasked her with the school’s re-accreditation process—something that she had never been involved in before. To start off, it was very challenging, but with much research and conversations with others who’d had experience in the area, Hillary became well-versed in all things to do with accreditation. She was also very impressed that private, independent Montessori schools had the option to become accredited as a means of holding themselves accountable to the highest standards possible. She is pleased to say the school did attain its re-accreditation that year and by then, she had offered her services to volunteer as an onsite validator with IMC.
When the Montessori Foundation became involved with NewGate School again, Hillary was asked to join the Montessori Foundation. Because there was what is called a ‘substantive change’ at the school, she was again tasked at ensuring the school’s accreditation was maintained. It was during this time that she mentioned her idea of updating the IMC accreditation procedures. She became very involved in starting the re-write of what has evolved, thanks to many Montessorians’ input and expertise, into the new standards that the IMC has today. She then became the Accreditation Director for the IMC, a role that she loved and is still so passionate about. Helping schools through the accreditation journey led to becoming an accreditation co-chair commissioner with the IMC. Hillary said, “It is my pleasure and honor to serve with other dedicated Montessorians who are as passionate as I when it comes to helping schools attain accreditation while maintaining high standards of Montessori practice in their schools.” ′
ML/ August 2019/ pg 40
