February 28, 2024. Cambridge, Massachusetts – Reflection Sciences, Inc., a leader in developing tools for measuring executive function (EF) skills, is excited to announce a landmark partnership with the National Center for Montessori in the Public Sector (NCMPS). This collaboration aims to revolutionize the way EF is considered and assessed in public Montessori education and beyond.
NCMPS, renowned for its advocacy and implementation support for public Montessori schools across the United States, has a long history and deep experience with the science of cognitive development, including EF skills. NCMPS educates teachers and school leaders and facilitates the use of science- and evidence-based practices.
Under this new partnership Reflection Sciences and NCMPS will co-develop an online course focusing on EF in a Montessori context, offered on the NCMPS website.
Both organizations will also offer reciprocal discounts, enhancing visibility and accessibility to each other’s resources, including NCMPS’ Developmental Environment Rating Scale (DERS), an observation tool that assesses classroom practice across 5 domains connected to EF,and the Minnesota Executive Function Scale (MEFS) from Reflection Sciences.
Reflection Sciences and NCMPS will jointly explore research opportunities with their partner schools, and share their findings and insights through publications like MontessoriPublic, the news magazine published by NCMPS and currently supported by the McCall Kulak Family Foundation and Wend Collective.
“Our collaboration with NCMPS represents a significant step in integrating Montessori’s best practices for the classroom environment with the science of executive function,” said Isaac Van Wesep, CEO of Reflection Sciences. “Students at public Montessori schools often grow their EF skills faster than average, and I believe a big part of that is a Montessori learning environment that promotes cognitive skill development.”
Sara Suchman, Executive Director of NCMPS, added, “This partnership with Reflection Sciences is a testament to our commitment to evidence-based practices and measuring what matters for children in classrooms oriented to whole child development. By pairing MEFS and DERS, teachers get both student-level data on EF growth and actionable feedback on how their classroom can better support that growth. This partnership reflects our belief in accessible, evidence-based feedback and action loops for all classrooms and students.”
EF skills are the attention-regulation skills necessary for the top-down, goal-directed modulation of attention, reasoning, behavior, emotion regulation, and decision-making. EF skills are widely recognized to provide an important foundation for learning and school success and have been shown to predict 3rd grade reading and math skills. This partnership will leverage the strengths of both organizations to enhance EF education.
About Reflection Sciences:
Reflection Sciences, Inc. is a pioneer in the development of tools and resources aimed at measuring and improving executive function skills in educational and clinical settings.
About National Center for Montessori in the Public Sector:
NCMPS is a leading organization dedicated to supporting, resourcing, and advocating for public Montessori schools in the United States.
Reflection Sciences Contact:
Joshua Dupler
Communications Manager
Reflection Sciences
josh@reflectionsciences.com
NCMPS Contact:
David Ayer
Communications Director
National Center for Montessori in the Public Sector
david.ayer@public-montessori.org
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