The NAMTA Center for Montessori Adolescent Studies (NCMAS), which opened in June, 2004, represents the culmination of NAMTA’s 27 years of Montessori adolescent leadership. The work of the NCMAS is to establish program design and validity based directly on the educational syllabus or framework suggested by the writings of Maria Montessori found in the Appendices of From Childhood to Adolescence. Project 2012 is an eight-year plan, working with many schools, to consolidate and define a universal syllabus or framework for ages 12-18 as suggested by Dr. Montessori.

In the last quarter of 2004, The Hershey Foundation, Mrs. Orcillia Oppenheimer, and the Dekko Foundation have committed to the funding of Project 2012 over the next eight years for the sake of Montessori secondary school reform.

Project 2012 activities include:

• Three adolescent colloquia (think tanks) of AMI trainers and practitioners: every third year, beginning in 2005 (October 6-9)
• On-site consultations for start-up and evaluation of Montessori adolescent programs
• Indexing of archives and publication of a history of Montessori thought on the adolescent plane of development
• Connection with other planes of development for "whole-school" implementation
• Facilitation of a consortium of "Montesssori" high school experiments
• Development of a Montessori high school in relation to a farm school with full documentation
• Continuation of NAMTA's summer professional development event, A Montessori Orientation to Adolescent Studies (Ages 12-18)
• Adolescent research from outside the Montessori community in order to facilitate a dialogue with the national adolescent reform movement
• Founding of The Montessori High School at University Circle in Cleveland, Ohio.

Watch this site for project updates, including event announcements. Proceedings from the October, 2005, Adolescent Colloquium can be purchased here. Or download the preface to read for free!