The Institute · Now accepting applications

The Prepared Leader: Fall 2027 Charter Cohort · Full academic year, September 2027 to June 2028

Montessori Makers Group

Home of the
Prepared
Organization.

Montessori schools prepare environments for children with extraordinary care. We help prepare the organization around them: its leadership, its adult culture, and its daily work.

Find Your Starting Point See the Work

The Prepared Organization

Clarity of Purpose and Role
Freedom Within Structure
The Prepared Adult
Coherence
Justice as Infrastructure

Children experience the
organization adults create.

Explore the five components

Hannah Richardson, founder of Montessori Makers Group

The person behind the practice

Developed by Hannah Richardson.

The Prepared Organization framework connects the conditions adults work in with the experiences children have. Montessori Makers puts that thinking into practice through school consulting, leadership formation, and tools built for the daily work of Montessori schools.

Meet Hannah and explore the thinking

From the Montessori Makers workroom

See the work.

A framework becomes a clearer decision. A course becomes a plan you can use. A school’s work becomes easier to see and follow through.

01 / Advisory

From “something isn’t working” to a place to begin.

The Prepared Organization Review connects what a school shares with the five components of the framework, then puts priorities and next steps in writing.

This sample follows a familiar problem: every family question lands on the head of school’s desk.

Read the sample Review

The Prepared Organization Review

When every family concern reaches the head of school

The finding: The handbook names a contact, but doesn’t explain who handles different questions.
The lens: Clarity of Purpose and Role: make responsibility for answering and escalating explicit.
The first step: Draft a one-page responsibility map. Review it with guides before sharing it with families.

Illustrative excerpt · fictional school, not client results.

02 / Institute

The learning leaves with you.

In Onboarding by Design, leaders spend three sessions building the support a new colleague needs after the welcome.

What you build in the course

A 30-, 60-, and 90-day onboarding roadmap for your school
Templates for documenting roles and setting expectations with new staff
A communication and check-in schedule for supporting new staff from day one

Explore the Institute courses

03 / MMAP

MMAP Annual Rhythm showing the month's priorities, including a board retreat, staff onboarding, classroom assignments, and family orientation. — Inside MMAP · demonstration school. Select the image to enlarge.

A school year you can see.

The Annual Rhythm brings the work of running a school into view: what is happening now, what needs attention, and what comes next.

It is one part of MMAP, the Montessori Makers Alignment Map, built for the work that connects classrooms, school leaders, and families.

Explore leadership in MMAP

Start Here

What do you need right now?

Support for Montessori schools grounded in anti-bias, anti-racist practice. Because peace requires justice, in how a school operates as well as what it teaches.

My school is at a turning pointAdvisory I need to develop as a leaderInstitute I want to start a Montessori schoolBuild a School I want to earn a Montessori credentialResidency I need to find the right peopleMatchHub Our systems need to workMMAP I need practical tools nowToolbox I want to know what stage my school is inThe Path

Know what needs attention first.

When the same problems keep returning, it can be hard to tell where to begin. The Prepared Organization Review examines the information you share about your school and gives you a written assessment, a prioritized action list, and a sequenced plan.

$500 · Delivered within ten business days of completed intake

Credited in full toward an Advisory engagement you begin within 90 days.

See what the Review includes Start with the free Diagnostic

The Ecosystem

Where most schools begin.

Prepare, place, develop, sustain. No other organization in Montessori links all four, and each piece was built to reinforce the next.

You don't need every part of it right now. Start where the pressure in your school is actually real.

Prepare

MMR trains educators through a full-scope credential with equity at the center and a paid practicum that treats preparation as a profession, not a costly side project.

Place

MatchHub connects MMG-prepared candidates to schools built for their philosophy, and gives schools a way to find candidates who were actually prepared in alignment.

Develop

The Institute builds leadership capacity in people already doing the work. Seminars, coaching, and formation across the full arc of a Montessori career.

Sustain

Advisory and MMAP give schools the systems and organizational design that let good people stay, grow, and lead without burning out.

MMG is one coherent ecosystem, built around what Montessori schools actually depend on: well-prepared people working in aligned schools, held together by structures that don’t collapse when a leader turns over.

School consulting & alignment

Advisory

Strategic consulting for schools navigating growth, transition, or culture repair.

Learn more

Leadership formation

Institute

Formation programs for people actively leading, seminars through residency.

Learn more

School operating system

MMAP

The operating system for Montessori schools. Classroom to boardroom.

Learn more

Montessori hiring

MatchHub

Philosophy-aligned matching for guides, directors, and heads of school.

Learn more

Montessori teacher preparation

Residency

A MACTE-track credential program for educators who want rigorous, accessible Montessori preparation.

Learn more

Web & communication design

Studio

Website design and communication strategy that closes the gap between mission and message.

Learn more

Templates & frameworks

Toolbox

Leadership templates for governance, hiring, and communication.

Explore

Curriculum & materials

Learning

Curriculum and courses grounded in Montessori philosophy.

Explore

Assessment platform

MMAS

Assessment built for the Montessori sequence, not grade-level standards.

Explore

Field-wide directory

The Montessori Atlas

The map of Montessori worldwide, free, public, for families, educators, schools, and researchers.

Explore

What We Believe

Five things that shape everything we do.

Montessori works best when the whole organization is aligned, not just the classroom.

Strong systems protect people and make excellence sustainable.

Adult culture is not separate from child outcomes. It shapes them.

Peace requires justice: safety, dignity, belonging, and courage for every child and adult.

Montessori is not sustained by ideals alone. It needs structures that let those ideals live.

From the Community

We had the pleasure of working with Hannah during a critical hiring phase, and her professionalism stood out from the very beginning. She navigated a complex search with care and clarity, combining professionalism with a personal touch.

Alisa Anania

Head of School, The Tidewater School

Strategic Search

I couldn't have done this without Montessori Makers Group. We appreciate her Montessori knowledge and background combined with the deep analysis of each candidate. It made all the difference in finding the right fit for our community.

Rebecca

Director, Wheaton Montessori

Strategic Search

The frameworks gave me language I didn't have before, and practical tools I could use the very next week.

Sonja Villalba

Administrator, School in the Hills

Staffing Course

Voices & Appearances

Featured in Montessori’s leading voices.

AMI

Association Montessori Internationale

Conference Presenter

Featured presenter on Montessori leadership and organizational alignment.

Asia Montessori Conference

Hanoi, Vietnam

Invited Presenter

International keynote on Montessori systems thinking and school leadership.

Breaking the Paradigm

Podcast · January 2026

Featured Guest

Co-founder of The Peace Rebellion in conversation on justice, Montessori, and structural change.

Montessori in Action

Public Montessori in Action International · Podcast

Featured Guest

Highlighted for the Decodable Book Series, called out as a primary classroom veteran and school leader.

PMAI

Public Montessori in Action International

Recurring Guest

Multiple episodes on school reopening strategies, adult culture, and Montessori leadership.

Now Booking · Fall 2026

Fall professional development dates are open.

Schools and conferences planning keynotes, workshops, or leadership retreats for August through the following spring are welcome to reach out now.

Book a Speaking Engagement

The Makers Network

A weekly email for Montessori leaders and practitioners.

Free. No noise. Just what matters to people doing this work.

·Leadership frameworks you can apply the same week

·Ecosystem updates and new tools, subscribers first

·Thinking on adult culture, hiring, and organizational design

Home of thePreparedOrganization.

Developed by Hannah Richardson.

From “something isn’t working” to a place to begin.

The learning leaves with you.

A school year you can see.

What do you need right now?

Know what needs attention first.

Where most schools begin.

Advisory

Institute

MMAP

MatchHub

Residency

Studio

Toolbox

Learning

MMAS

The Montessori Atlas

Five things that shape everything we do.

Featured in Montessori’s leading voices.

Fall professional development dates are open.

A weekly email for Montessori leaders and practitioners.

Home of the
Prepared
Organization.