An Introduction to Dr. K.T. Korngold

Hello and thank you for taking some of your precious time to learn a little about me through my blog.

I have been involved with Montessori my whole life. My mother, Carole Wolfe Korngold (1935-2019) started her Montessori teacher education training program in the early 1960s, and she trained the first cohort of Head Start teachers from New York City in Montessori. The training was held at the University of Albany.  I was in the demonstration class. That was 1968. The photo above shows me in the middle, behind the head teacher. I am assisting my sister with her apron. I have my AMS Infant and Toddler and AMS Administrator Credentials, both from CMTE/NY (The Center for Montessori Teacher Education, NY, which was founded by my mother. I became CEO of CMTE/NY when she was retiring.  I have overseen CMTE/NY and have been a faculty member at the Infant and Toddler, Early Childhood, and Administration levels. I have mentored and coached teachers, teacher trainers, and parents. I have presented at the AMS conference and at a conference in Vietnam.  I am the Director of the Montessori Children’s Center, which was one of the first full-time, year-round Montessori child care centers in the United States, and one of the first to offer Montessori for infants and toddlers in a full-time, year-round setting. We are licensed for 91 children from 3 months to 6 years of age.

I had always wanted to get an Ed.D in Montessori, and while CMTE/NY had a master’s program and Ed.D program through the College of New Rochelle, those programs ended when the College of New Rochelle closed in 2019 before I was able to enroll in the doctoral program. Recently, I completed through the University of Wisconsin River Falls Montessori Studies Program, earning my Ed.D in May 2025.

I feel deeply grateful for my work as a Montessori leader. I have had the opportunity to mentor teachers and school administrators, and teacher trainers. I have had the experience of guiding parents and shaping children, of creating authentic Montessori environments and advocating for social change as well as new legislation to support Montessori education. I have written many articles that have been published in Montessori Life, Infant and Toddler Journal, and Tomorrow’s Child. I have had the chance to work with and be mentored by some of the most gifted, talented, and wise people who have helped create the Montessori movement in the USA and who shaped AMS (the American Montessori Society) and our landscape today: My mother, Carole Wolfe Korngold, Marie Dugan, Mary Ellen Kordis, Dane Peters, Nancy Rose, Virginia Varga, Bretta Weiss, Pat Werner. I have been able to have a positive impact in shaping policy and procedures in child care and in Montessori teacher and administrator education. I have presented at AMS and other Montessori conferences, traveled around the country, visited interns, and consulted with school leaders from Washington State to Texas to New Hampshire to Florida to China and Vietnam. I twice led a contingent of teacher trainers to Vietnam to teach Infant and Toddler Montessori, a program that was cut short by the closures in Vietnam due to the pandemic. I have helped Montessori teachers to be recognized: we now have the Montessori Credential on the New York State career ladder for educators. I have helped Montessori teachers get master’s degrees through the development of the master’s program at the College of New Rochelle and at Charter Oak State College. I developed a conference, Pathways to a Peaceful School, which provided regional and international professional development opportunities. The first year we had 50 attendees from China! I assisted Montessori teachers in training to get scholarships from AMS. I have aided schools in opening and expanding and encouraged the opening of new infant and toddler programs. I have supported people in becoming administrators, school leaders, and heads and lead teachers.

My childcare center, the Montessori Children’s Center (MCC) in West Harrison, NY is unique as a Montessori school and year-round program. We are open 12 months a year. Our children are all enrolled full-time. Most children stay with us for four or five years.  Montessori childcare is not frequently acknowledged in Montessori circles (in fact, child care, full day, and full year-round are not even listed as categories of descriptors of schools on AMS surveys — we do not have a school and summer program– we are one program year from Sept-August). The Montessori Children’s Center was one of the first Montessori child care centers in the United States. We quickly became a model of what high-quality Montessori education can be for young children and what Montessori infant and toddler programs actually look like. Many of the procedures taught in TEPS and practiced in Montessori infant and toddler programs that you see in effect today were first created at MCC by Dr. Virginia Varga and my mother, Carole Wolfe Korngold. It is an honor and privilege to serve as director of this model program. My advocacy work has enabled Montessori programs to be recognized and flourish.

Now, there is a new threat to infant and toddler programs as UPreK starts to move to younger ages. Parents may take children out of existing Montessori schools and centers to put them into the free programs unless those Montessori centers are themselves included in the UPreK system. We see this happening already, with parents leaving for “free” U-4 or U-5. However, the local district who controls UPreK does not allow “Montessori” to be the curriculum and only permits the Scholastic curriculum “PreK On My Way!”

The expansion of UPreK will have a destabilizing effect not only on UpreK programs but also on infant and toddler programs, which depend on the income from early childhood programs to offset the more expensive ratios of the younger age groups. Montessori programs are going to need help. During the pandemic, some Montessori schools closed, and some closed permanently. Others have been unable to hire new staff or to expand to meet the growing needs of young children who need care again as parents return to work out of the home and as we continue to recognize (too slowly) that all children need the benefits of early education in order to thrive in later life.

High-quality infant and toddler programs are already in short supply. Policymakers are embarking on investing in early care for pre-k and early care with more and more hesitancy. Montessori advocates will need to continue to take an active role in helping to ensure that funds are directed toward Montessori programs, that Montessori programs meet eligibility, and ensuring that those programs meet our standards, not those set by traditional educators.

Now that I have received my doctorate, I play a direct role with public policy to help ensure the future of Montessori programs with the expansion of UPreK without compromising our standards at a policy level. I work with local and state agency to advocate for high quality Montessori child care, and to ensure that Montessori can continue to flourish and thrive while meeting the needs of the children and families in our care.

I am joyful to be working in a job that sustains me emotionally and enables me to contribute to society and the future in such a meaningful way, as was modeled by my mentors, some of the founding mothers and fathers of Montessori in the United States.