Tamara Balis and Her Work in Montessori Education

Introduction

Tamara Balis, professionally known as Tamara Sheesley Balis, has spent much of her career working with children, teachers, parents, and school leaders.

Her path started in public education. Later, Montessori became the main focus.

She taught in classrooms. Then came school leadership.

Today, Balis is known for her work at Greenspring Montessori School and the Greenspring Center for Lifelong Learning. She also writes, speaks, trains educators, and hosts a Montessori podcast.

Basically, her career has grown around one main idea: schools should work well for children and the adults who support them.

Quick Facts About Tamara Balis

Fact	Details
Full professional name	Tamara Sheesley Balis
Known as	Tamara Balis
Profession	Educator, school leader, writer, speaker, consultant
Main field	Montessori education
Current school role	Head of School at Greenspring Montessori School
Other current role	Executive Director of Greenspring Center for Lifelong Learning
Podcast	Voices in Montessori
Education	BA in English; M.Ed. through TIES
Montessori training	Early Childhood/Primary and Lower Elementary credentials
Former role	Head of School at Amherst Montessori School
Early career	Bilingual elementary teacher through Teach for America
Children	Two
Professional base	Maryland, United States
Planned career change	Expected to leave current Greenspring leadership in summer 2027

Who Is Tamara Balis?

Tamara Balis is a U.S.-based Montessori educator and school administrator.

She has worked in education for many years.

Her experience covers public-school teaching, Montessori classroom work, campus leadership, teacher development, family education, consulting, writing, and professional training.

She has served as Head of School at Greenspring Montessori School since 2012.

That is a long run.

Her work now reaches well beyond one school. Through workshops, articles, mentoring, and podcast conversations, she talks about staff relationships, school culture, communication, child development, leadership, and Montessori practice.

Education

Balis earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from Principia College in Elsah, Illinois.

She later completed a Master of Education through The Institute for Educational Studies, known as TIES.

Her graduate work included Montessori school leadership and questions around children’s inner and spiritual development in educational settings.

There is a small detail worth handling carefully.

Different institutional pages have listed different university partnerships connected with TIES. Because of that, the safest confirmed wording is that Balis earned her M.Ed. through TIES.

No need to guess beyond that.

Montessori Training

Balis holds professional Montessori credentials.

Her published school profile lists training in:

• Early Childhood or Primary Montessori education
• Lower Elementary Montessori education

Her Primary training came through the Montessori Teachers Institute in Norwich, Connecticut.

Her Lower Elementary training came through the Institute for Advanced Montessori Studies in Silver Spring, Maryland.

These qualifications supported her move from classroom teaching into wider Montessori leadership.

Her Start in Education

Balis did not begin her career as a school administrator.

She started closer to the classroom.

She worked as a bilingual elementary public-school teacher through Teach for America.

That experience placed her inside a more traditional public-school setting before her later move into Montessori education.

Exact dates for this part of her career are not clearly published, so they should not be guessed.

Henson Valley Montessori School

Balis later worked at Henson Valley Montessori School.

Her role was Lower Elementary Directress.

That meant hands-on classroom work with elementary-age students using Montessori methods.

This period helped build the teaching experience that later supported her administrative career.

Again, public sources do not give reliable start and finish dates for this job.

The Boyd School

Another step followed.

Balis became Director of the Reston Campus of The Boyd School in Virginia.

This moved her further into school management.

Her work was no longer only about one classroom. She was now handling the wider needs of a school community.

Exact dates for her Boyd School role are not clearly confirmed in the public material available.

Montessori Families

Balis also worked on parent education.

One of her better-known earlier projects was connected with Montessori Families, LLC.

She created educational material aimed at parents who wanted to use Montessori ideas at home.

A notable project was:

Bringing Out the Brilliance in Your Infant: Montessori at Home

Balis is credited with writing, narrating, and producing the educational program.

The material focused on practical ideas for infant development.

Topics included movement, language, independence, observation, order, sensory learning, and preparing the home environment.

Pretty practical stuff.

It showed that her interests already stretched past classroom teaching and into family education.

Amherst Montessori School

Balis later became Head of School at Amherst Montessori School in Massachusetts.

Her official Greenspring profile says she spent about four years there.

Public professional records place that period roughly between 2008 and 2012, though the exact dates should be treated carefully because the strongest official profile only confirms the four-year term.

During this period, Amherst Montessori School worked on a major new facility.

The school developed a roughly 12,800-square-foot building and ran a capital campaign connected with the project.

Those were school-wide efforts.

They involved trustees, staff, families, donors, consultants, and the wider community, so they should not be presented as the work of one person alone.

Joining Greenspring Montessori School

In 2012, Balis became Head of School at Greenspring Montessori School in Maryland.

This became the longest leadership chapter of her career.

Under her time as Head of School, Greenspring has worked on enrollment, classroom growth, professional education, campus projects, staff development, family engagement, and long-term planning.

School reports from her tenure also document new classrooms and major building work.

One project was the Elementary Village, a roughly 5,560-square-foot facility that was nearing completion in late 2022 and expected to open in 2023.

Again, these were community projects.

Balis led the school, but many people helped make them happen.

Leading Through the COVID-19 Period

The COVID-19 period created a tough test for schools.

Greenspring was no exception.

School reporting from 2020 says the team created a Learning from Home model within about one week after normal operations were disrupted.

Staff then had to handle virtual Montessori learning while preparing ways for students to return under changing health rules.

It was an unusual period.

School leaders had to make decisions quickly, communicate with families, and keep teachers supported while information kept changing.

During the same period, Greenspring also continued work around diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging.

Greenspring Center for Lifelong Learning

Balis also serves as Executive Director of the Greenspring Center for Lifelong Learning.

The Center was created in 2022.

Its work is aimed mainly at Montessori educators and school leaders.

It provides training, mentoring, workshops, professional learning, resources, and consultation.

The Center currently describes Balis as having around 25 years of Montessori experience and about 18 years in school leadership.

Her role there fits naturally with the later stage of her career.

Instead of working only inside one school, she now shares what she has learned with educators in other communities too.

Voices in Montessori Podcast

Balis hosts the Voices in Montessori podcast.

The program is connected with the Greenspring Center for Lifelong Learning.

Guests and discussions cover real issues faced by Montessori teachers and administrators.

Subjects have included:

• School culture
• Staff belonging
• Learning differences
• Teacher support
• Montessori practice
• Communication
• Leadership
• Child development

The podcast gives Balis another way to talk directly with educators.

Less formal. More conversational.

Speaking and Professional Training

Balis regularly speaks at Montessori events and professional workshops.

One documented session is Building a Culture of Belonging, presented through the American Montessori Society.

She has also spoken in AMI/USA programming about building belonging among adults in school communities.

Her workshops often focus on people rather than systems alone.

She talks about listening.

She talks about trust.

She also covers staff onboarding, hard conversations, mentoring, communication, conflict, teacher wellness, and leadership.

These are day-to-day school issues.

They affect how teachers feel at work and how schools function.

Writing

Writing is another major part of Balis’s professional work.

She has contributed education-focused material to Washington Families Magazine and has published many pieces through Greenspring.

Her subjects include parenting, Montessori practice, teacher wellbeing, mentoring, staff culture, children’s development, and leadership.

Published titles connected with her work include:

• Montessori as Preparation for the “Real World”
• Beyond the Break: Sustaining Teacher Wellness Throughout the Year
• The Spiritual Preparation of the Adult
• Onboarding: Sending Belonging Cues on Day One!
• The Power of Positivity in Mentoring
• All Heroes Need a Champion: Why Educators Deserve Mentors, Too

Her 2026 writing has also discussed shared leadership, children’s resilience, conflict resolution, teacher schedules, school decision-making, and children’s spiritual life.

The subjects vary.

The common point is education.

Her Views on School Culture

Belonging appears again and again in Balis’s work.

She argues that adults in schools need to feel safe, heard, and connected too.

That matters.

A teacher who feels isolated or unsupported may struggle to do their best work with students.

Balis often takes ideas associated with Montessori classrooms and asks how they can work among adults.

Respect is one example.

Listening is another.

Shared responsibility matters too.

Shared Leadership

Balis has also written about shared leadership.

The basic idea is simple.

Teachers work closely with students every day, so their knowledge should be considered when schools make decisions that affect classroom life.

She has written about bringing more teacher input into decision-making rather than leaving every policy choice to senior administrators.

That doesn’t remove leadership.

It changes how people talk before decisions are made.

Children, Independence, and Challenge

Another repeated theme is independence.

Montessori education often asks adults to avoid solving every problem for a child.

Balis carries that idea into her writing.

Children can sometimes do more than adults expect.

They need support, sure.

But they also need chances to think, try, fail, fix things, and try again.

Her writing has also discussed manageable discomfort and challenge.

The point is not to make childhood unnecessarily hard.

It is to allow children enough space to build confidence from real experience.

Family

Balis is a parent of two children.

Her official professional profiles say both children received Montessori education from the Toddler stage through Adolescence.

No reliable public source gives enough reason to publish private information about her children beyond that.

The same applies to her spouse.

A reliable spouse identity or marriage history is not clearly established in the professional sources reviewed, so those details should stay out.

Personal Interests

Her official school profile lists several interests outside work.

Balis enjoys:

• Walking
• Hiking
• Reading
• Watercolor painting
• Pickleball
• Propagating houseplants
• Spending time outdoors
• Spending time with family
• Learning

She is also interested in education, nature, the cosmos, brain development, child development, and leadership.

Her Greenspring Center profile has mentioned books such as The Culture Code, Dare to Lead, and No-Drama Discipline among her reading interests.

Is Tamara Balis Leaving Greenspring?

Yes, but not immediately.

In May 2026, Greenspring announced that the 2026–27 school year would be Balis’s final year as Head of School.

She is expected to finish her Greenspring leadership work in summer 2027 after about 14 years as Head of School.

Her next professional stage is expected to focus more heavily on writing, speaking, consulting, school support, and leadership development.

So, as of October 2026, she remains in her Greenspring leadership roles.

She has not retired.

Final Thought

Tamara Balis has built her career across several parts of education.

First came teaching.

Then Montessori classroom work.

School leadership followed.

Now much of her work also reaches teachers, administrators, and families through training, speaking, writing, consulting, and podcasting.

Her long tenure at Greenspring is the best-known part of that story, but her work stretches further than one campus.

With her planned leadership transition in summer 2027, the next stage looks likely to place even more focus on sharing her experience with other schools and educators.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is Tamara Balis?

Tamara Balis, also known professionally as Tamara Sheesley Balis, is a Montessori educator, school leader, writer, speaker, consultant, and podcast host.

Where does Tamara Balis work?

She is Head of School at Greenspring Montessori School and Executive Director of the Greenspring Center for Lifelong Learning.

When did Tamara Balis join Greenspring?

She became Head of School at Greenspring Montessori School in 2012.

What education does Tamara Balis have?

She earned a BA in English from Principia College and an M.Ed. through The Institute for Educational Studies, or TIES.

Does Tamara Balis have Montessori credentials?

Yes. Her professional profiles list Montessori credentials in Early Childhood/Primary and Lower Elementary education.

What podcast does Tamara Balis host?

She hosts Voices in Montessori, a podcast connected with the Greenspring Center for Lifelong Learning.

Does Tamara Balis have children?

Yes. Her official profile says she has two children, both of whom received Montessori education.

Is Tamara Balis leaving Greenspring Montessori School?

Her final school year as Head of School is expected to be 2026–27. She plans to move away from her current Greenspring leadership roles in summer 2027 and focus more on writing, speaking, consulting, and related education work.

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