We have exciting news to share — and we think it says a lot about the community we’ve built together.

This spring, Bridgemont International School was awarded Accreditation with Distinction by COGNIA, the world’s largest education accreditation organization. This is the highest possible designation — Level 5 on a 5-level scale — and it comes with an Index of Education Quality score of 378, compared to the global average of 297. This is especially meaningful because it’s uncommon for any school to achieve this on their very first review cycle.

What is COGNIA, and why does it matter?

COGNIA evaluates schools and institutions in more than 80 countries. When a school earns COGNIA accreditation, it’s a signal to colleges, universities, and employers that the school meets internationally recognized standards for quality, safety, and continuous improvement. For families choosing a school, it is a mark of trustworthiness.

A little about who we are

BIS is an online Montessori middle and high school for students in grades 7–12. Our classes are small, live, and fully synchronous, which means students are showing up in real time, learning alongside peers, building relationships, and doing the kind of hands-on, project-based work for which Montessori education is known.

Our students come from 8 time zones, 12 U.S. states, and 9 countries. They collaborate on interdisciplinary projects, participate in Socratic seminars, explore electives like handcrafts and digital graphics, take part in a micro-economy program, and have access to a dedicated Wellness program. There are even optional in-person bonding trips for families who seek face-to-face connection. For students, this kind of global community isn’t a novelty — it’s a normal part of their school day.

We also partner with schools looking to build or expand their adolescent programs, offering trained Montessori guides and flexible scheduling that fits within schools’ existing structure and enriching students’ experiences.

What the evaluators found

A team of independent COGNIA reviewers examined our policies, classes, community, instruction, curriculum, administration, and our school culture and measured BIS against 31 research-based performance standards.

Students at BIS have a real voice. They help set classroom norms, choose topics of study, and advocate for changes when something isn’t working — and leadership actually listens. Evaluators noted that this shared responsibility for learning is woven into the fabric of everyday life at BIS, not simply written in a mission statement.

They described our culture as one genuinely grounded in Montessori philosophy, where respect, fairness, and belonging are foundational expectations, not just aspirations. Students themselves described their environment as supportive, calm, and respectful.

Four qualities truly stood out

COGNIA reserves a special “Noteworthy Practices” designation for the things a school does exceptionally well. BIS received four.

1. Perhaps most touching: The evaluators cited our students’ own words. Students described their teachers as honest, caring, and engaging — and said they feel challenged, interested, and supported. The evaluators simply listened, and what they heard reflected a school where intrinsic motivation and genuine ownership of learning are real.
2. Our Wellness program was recognized as a cohesive, integrated system — not a collection of add-on services, but a real commitment to supporting the whole child, from advisory groups to individualized support plans.
3. Our community engagement reflected families, partner schools, and faculty genuinely involved in shaping what happens at BIS — through surveys, advisory meetings, and ongoing communication. The people most affected by our school have a vital seat at the table.
4. Finally, our approach to technology was recognized for being both innovative and intentional — digital tools that support collaboration and individualized learning while staying true to Montessori pedagogy. Students across 8 Time Zones share not just lessons, but community.

What comes next

We see this accreditation as a beginning, not an end. In the years ahead, we’re committed to formalizing our continuous improvement process, deepening individualized support for every learner, and expanding our course offerings — including Creative Writing, Video Production, Debate, Personal Finance, Coding & Programming, and expanded Arts options. Most of our core courses are now also NCAA-approved for student athletes entering Div. I, II, and III sports.

We’re proud of this recognition, but we’re even more proud of the community that earned it — the students who show up as full participants in their own education, the families who trust us with something as important as their child’s future, and the educators who bring honesty, warmth, and deep respect to their work every single day.

If you’re curious about whether BIS might be the right fit for your family, we’d love to talk. 

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Bridgemont International School was treated to a remarkable online visit when Dr. Temple Grandin, world-renowned animal scientist, university professor, author, and neurodiversity advocate, joined students for a conversation that far exceeded expectations.

The invitation came from Emily Squadroni, Middle School Science teacher, whose class had been exploring ethics in science as part of a broader unit. Word spread quickly, and students and teachers from throughout the school tuned in — including students joining from Belgium, the Cayman Islands, the British Virgin Islands, and throughout the United States.

What began as a focused conversation on scientific ethics quickly expanded into something much larger. Dr. Grandin spoke passionately about the importance of observation in science, pushing back on what she sees as a troubling trend of overemphasizing math and algorithms at the expense of hands-on, sensory engagement with the world. “Observation is a very important part of science,” she told students. “That’s where it starts.” She pointed to the Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes as examples of landmark science built entirely on observation, no control group required.

Dr. Grandin also dove deep into the value of visual thinking, connecting it to her own groundbreaking work in animal welfare research and her 2022 book, “Visual Thinking: The Hidden Gifts of People Who Think in Pictures”. She described how getting down into cattle chutes to see what the animals actually saw led to transformative improvements in how livestock are handled. She expressed concern that schools are inadvertently “screening out” visual thinkers through rigid algebra requirements, and made a compelling case for bringing back shop classes, cooking classes, and hands-on learning starting in elementary school.

The conversation touched on scientific ethics in concrete terms, including the Challenger disaster, the Fukushima nuclear meltdown, and a cautionary tale from cancer research in which millions of dollars of work was compromised because researchers failed to record which type of cell-mixing device they used in their method sections. “Details matter,” Dr. Grandin said simply.

Students were also encouraged to get out and try things — shadow professionals, help professors with research, travel when they can, and spend less time on devices. “Get out there and do things,” she urged. “Find out what you like to do.”

The session wrapped up with a question from student Maha, who asked what mechanical skill Dr. Grandin most worries schools are missing. Her answer was direct: put shop class and other hands-on, experiential learning opportunities back into schools. “We’ve got kids today who don’t know how to measure,” she noted.

The impression she left on Bridgemont’s community was lasting. Her blend of scientific rigor, practical wisdom, and genuine care for young people made for exactly the kind of conversation that reminds everyone — students and teachers alike — why learning matters.

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Those who work with Montessori adolescent programs know that student-planned bonding trips, also known as Odyssey trips, are an important, and joyful, part of the learning process. You may not know that this can happen in online school programs too!

There is so much that sets Bridgemont International School apart from traditional online experiences; it seems wrong to call it “online”. Our students are part of a tight-knit community of teachers and peers. They log into class to speak to real, highly qualified, compassionate teachers and collaborate on projects, papers, Socratic seminars, and “maker” projects with teens (7th gr.+) like themselves who join them from around the country. Much of the work is actually offline with paper and pencil as well as outdoors. 

Two weeks ago, we put the students’ plans into action as we toured Washington, DC. This was not through a pre-planned tour company.

• Our students chose the location. 
• They sold yearbooks, hosted brunches in their local, partnering schools, sold soaps and washed cars to fund their way. 
• A committee researched BNBs and found three LARGE houses on the Metro line for the students to vote for their favorite, another committee planned the itinerary.
• Still another group worked within a budget to plan the week’s menus, create a shopping list and assign cooking teams for each meal of the trip. 

They were amazing! The house was ideal, every day’s itinerary was full, and the food was well-planned and prepared.

In the process of planning, one teen questioned the wisdom of students, with no prior experience, planning such an event. I said, “So often, society underestimates what teens are capable of. It’s not surprising that you might doubt yourselves, but you can do this!”

I am so honored to see the smiles on the 20+ teens who flew in from around the country to sight-see, sign yearbooks, play music, tell stories, and bond as a community. Every young person should have these experiences. — Tamela Mills, Head of School, BIS

Written by Tamela Mills

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Adolescence is known among Montessorians as the age of the social newborn, so how can we grow a program large enough to support teens’ need for peer connection, collaboration, and learning exploration? This can be a struggle for many schools. 

A growing number of high-quality, independent Montessori schools are joining a network of schools through Bridgemont International School to meet the developmental needs of their young people. As a partnering school with Bridgemont, local schools across 8 time zones forge a safe, responsible online community where young people can learn collaboratively with peers and Montessori-trained guides. Bridgemont offers not only a full schedule of engaging, live courses for grades 7 and above, but also the essential experiences of community meetings, micro-economy, open work cycle, Socratic seminars, preparation for work shadowing, and digital citizenship, which has emerged as the practical life of this generation. Bringing teens from various schools, states, even countries gives students a wider social circle, allowing them to develop friendships, learn about other cultures and lived experiences. They are becoming the global citizens that Dr. Montessori envisioned!

The online school experience is balanced with ample time offscreen for the many advantages of work and life in a neighborhood Montessori school enriched with hiking, gardening, car washes, cooking, sports, field trips, and work of the hand in the safety and familiarity of their home school, one which many students have grown up in and navigate with confidence. So that every young person has the wrap-around support and mentorship so valuable at this stage, Bridgemont staff maintain connection and offer training to the classroom guide/teaching assistant who guides these experiences.  

If you are interested in learning more about how your school can become a partnering school with Bridgemont, email our staff at info@bridgemontschool.com. BIS staff will develop a daily schedule, plan for courses and services that best meet your school needs, host an info-session for you and your school families, and offer every student an individualized education and a team of Montessorians who understand the importance of educating the whole child.

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Can You Have an Online Montessori School?

When I joined Bridgemont International School, friends asked me, “How can you have an online Montessori school?” There is a perception that Dr. Montessori would never have accepted computers in a classroom, not to mention an online school, but this vision of Montessori education is incomplete. It’s true that Dr. Montessori was a strong proponent of hands-on, experiential learning, which I agree should be integrated into every child’s day, but she also outlined the adolescent (ages 12 -18) experience in Erdkinder by saying, “For in our times science has created a new world in which the whole of humanity is joined together by a universal scientific culture. Thus, children should learn to use machines habitually as part of their education” (2007, p. 77-78).

How to Navigate Technology the Montessori Way

Dr. Montessori even warned of “ill-intent as the speed of communication increases”. (She was so far ahead of her time!) Yet the solution she posed to us was not to keep technology at arm’s length but to treat it as “an extra adaptable limb of modern man” (2007, p. 78). So that young people learn to use technology of all forms responsibly, she challenged us, saying, “A new morality, individual and social, must be our chief consideration in this new world,” with a “responsibility towards humanity that individuals incur when they assume powers so much greater than those with which they are naturally endowed” (2007, p. 78). To meet this challenge, our program offers students digital citizenship integrated into our everyday language class, where young people, both individually and socially, learn how to navigate technology responsibly with a research-backed curriculum that addresses real-world experiences.

One might think of this online world as sterile, but there is a sort of “hum” to our daily synchronous classes. Much like you find in a brick-and-mortar school, students laugh, chat, and question their experiences with their peers and their guides. Relationships and a sense of community are woven into our daily routines, communications, and even lessons of science experiments, Socratic seminars, and discussion boards.

Building Social Circles Across the Globe

Rather than limiting our young people’s social circle, we open it up to eight time zones. In a recent community meeting, a high school girl in Michigan reported on her committee’s progress in creating a school yearbook, a middle school girl in the Caribbean acknowledged the help of a peer in mastering fractions earlier in the day, and a European 8th grade boy shared his favorite French pop song. Even without understanding the words, we all listened and seemed to share his appreciation. This casual connection is as important as history class because “emotions are essential to cognition, and relationships are essential to learning,” according to Harvard-based lecturer Julia Volkman in a recent Sarasota University colloquium on the neuroscience of learning (September 2023).

We say in our society that we must prepare young people to step into a global community and jobs that do not yet exist. Technology opens doors and opportunities; it connects us in a way that nothing else can. At Bridgemont International School, a virtual secondary school, Montessori students are building their own bridge to their future.

Written by : Tamela Mills

Tamela Mills

Head of School at Bridgemont International School

Tamela Mills is the Head of School at Bridgemont International School, an online Montessori secondary school founded by the leaders of The Center for Guided Montessori Studies. Led by a team of skilled Montessori guides, Bridgemont engages students in synchronous classes and activities including community meetings, group economy projects, and seminars aimed towards social and emotional development of the whole child so they may discover and understand their place in the world. Bridgemont still has spaces for the 2023-2024 school year and is enrolling students in 7th – 10th grade, and will continue adding a year each year through 12th grade.

Find out more about Bridgemont at info@bridgemontschool.com or call 941-900-4355.

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– You are integral in the formation of long term memories.
-You help to coordinate spatial memory.
-You integrate emotions and learning.
-You connect auditory sounds with memory.

Learning means to understand material and in such a way that you can remember it and apply it to new situations. This is impossible without the hippocampus! Here’s the thing… The hippocampus does not mature until around the age of 14. This means that our middle school students are trying to learn without a mature hippocampus! Dude…bummer.

As teachers, we take this into account by using the tools of repetition. Quick reviews at the start of class; asking similar questions several times; and keeping the energy of the classroom upbeat in order to tie in a positive emotional response. We can also use music as a memory tool. If students listen to the same instrumental music while learning a topic, they can then listen to that same music during an assessment and have a higher chance of remembering material!

Hippocampus for the win!

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In the midst of the students learning about World War II and the holocaust, we posed this question to the students. Their responses were very real and showcased their shift towards adulthood. The students agreed that citizens of Earth would never live together in total harmony. They said that there would always be someone who felt they were superior and would act on that belief in a negative way. However, they also unanimously believed that there are moments of harmony, whether it be in a relationship, in a family, or a community. They said these are the moments that keep us going and that give us hope.

When we followed up and asked our personal responsibility with establishing this harmony, they responded with a few different ideas. One student said that our responsibility was to focus on making connections with others. Another student said it is very important to stay positive during situations. And yet another mentioned that it is important to keep learning about the past so that we do not make the same mistakes again.

And that, my friends, is why we choose to work with adolescents. Honesty. Clarity. Conviction.

11

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When the inspiration strikes, just Gogh for it!

Each week, one student chooses a piece of art that inspires them. In this case, the chosen piece was a self-portrait by Vincent Van Gogh. The students were tasked with the job of recreating their own version of the portrait through a medium of their choosing.

From photography to colored pencils to water colors, the students artfully and thoughtfully created their own interpretation of Van Gogh’s painting as seen below!

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I started by thinking about what Bridgemont means to me. After thinking for a little I came up with: Bridgemont is a small, growing, creative, and fun community. I thought about colors that could represent these things. I decided on the colors red, yellow, and green. I ultimately ended up choosing the original Bridgemont blue and a pale yellow. I thought this ended with a nice color balance.

After the colors I wanted to choose an animal for the logo. I previously wanted the school’s mascot to be an owl and barn owl started with the letter B. So I decided to use a barn owl. I then looked up the meaning of owl and it said “wisdom, intuition, supernatural power, independent thinking, and observant listening” these are all things that I see in Bridgemont students and Guides except maybe supernatural power.

For the drawing (yes, I drew it) I used an app on my iPad called Procreate. I started by using black and sketched the shapes until I was happy with it. Then I made the face and went from there to make the neck then wings, and last but not least the foot and stomach. Then I added feathers and turned it into a simple design, then colors and I was finished.

During this whole process Miss Jess led me through and gave me feedback so I did not do this by myself.

-Oak

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Even though I am the math guide, I have to admit…not a lot of the math skills taught will be used in everyday life. Let’s think about it. Have you ever been at the grocery store and needed to solve a system of equations in order to choose which brand of spaghetti to buy? I have had many jobs in the past and not one of them required me to know how to determine the fractional equivalent of a repeating decimal. The only time I have ever searched for X was when I needed to buy eXtra dark chocolate.

So what’s the point?

Having said all of that, I am a very excited math teacher. The specific math skills may not be used every day, but the cognitive abilities used to solve the math problems will! The real life skills taught in a math class include: how to struggle, how to get something wrong and not feel badly about yourself, how to figure out what went wrong, how to think about a problem differently as you try again, how to think outside of the box. Every week, we spend a few minutes of our math class discussing brain science and how the brain works and thrives as we struggle.

I don’t know about you, but I have not found life to be easy breezy. I have struggled more than I have triumphed. Wouldn’t it be cool to be so comfortable with the process of struggling and problem solving that we didn’t view these things as negative but rather as necessary and interesting?

Well, my friends, that’s math.

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