The MCS teaching faculty are the core of our community.
Our teachers are passionate about children and committed to their
own personal and professional growth. As colleagues, they share
with each other and consistently feel supported by the administration.
They have appropriate autonomy within the framework of Montessori
training and best practice.
In an August, 2003 press release, the National Association
of Independent Schools (NAIS) announced a list of questions parents
could ask as a more substantial way of assessing the quality of
a child's education. These questions are an alternative to "Top
Ten" lists and rankings based on test scores.
The first three critical questions are:
• Are there high quality and committed teachers?
• Are there strong partnerships among parents, teachers, and students?
• Does the school have a climate that supports achievement?
While these questions make excellent sense, almost
immediately you might ask: "How, exactly, will I gather the
data that will allow me to make informed judgments regarding each
of these questions?" A recent Independent School Management
article for heads of schools suggested valid ways to make these
judgments. To answer these three questions, we want you to know
the following:
• MCS attracts the highest quality Montessori trained teachers
and is committed to doing so into the future because the breadth
of our faculty's benefits package is significantly beyond that
of most Montessori schools.
• The MCS faculty salary scale is highly competitive. Our starting
salary is above the NAIS average starting salary, and the top
of our scale is beyond the average for all N.C. public school
teachers.
• MCS devotes over $8,000 in its annual budget to faculty development,
paying for formal Montessori training, workshops, and speakers.
• MCS emphasizes faculty development as a part of the overall
annual faculty evaluation process. Each year each teachers sets
goals with the Head of School - goals which emphasize individual
development and continued life-long learning. Cumulatively, these
four commitments bespeak the fundamental importance of teacher
recruitment, compensation, continual professional growth, and
evaluation at MCS.
• As a Montessori school MCS has two Montessori trained professionals
in every environment. But even more important than the ratio of
our teaching faculty to the number of students is the effectiveness
of our faculty and Montessori methods. Having co-teachers is often
a significant factor in why candidates choose MCS.
• MCS employs 34 full-time teachers, 6 full time administrators,
9 part-time teachers and staff, and one full-time staff member.
The average tenure at MCS of the teaching faculty is 5.5 years.
Montessori-trained teaching faculty average more than 8.5 years
teaching experience.
• The first group of MCS 8th year graduates were accepted and
are currently thriving at every independent to which they applied.
• 3rd through 8th Year standardized test scores for the past three
years average 86 percentile.
• We value and promote a strong partnership between the classroom
teachers and our parents in many ways. At every level there are
at least 3 evening parent information meetings, in addition to
three conferences and three narrative reports during each year.
Parents talk daily with teachers face-to-face in Toddler and Children's
House. We encourage the use of e~mail to make appointments and
return quick questions - more substantive discussions about individual
children are always conducted face-to-face.
• On recent parent surveys, our families consistently rate the
sense of community at MCS as a significant strength.
