Darla Ferris Miller

Dr. Darla Ferris Miller has served as a global advocate for families, children, and Montessori education in her roles as college vice president, child care and development professor, textbook author, Montessori teacher, Montessori school head, Montessori teacher educator, consultant, and nonprofit board member.

Miller has fostered exemplary Montessori education in the United States, Canada, China, Taiwan, Vietnam, South Korea, and Russia. Her BA degree is from Baylor University, and her PhD and MA are from The University of Houston. She holds American Montessori Society credentials at both the Infant and Toddler and Early Childhood Levels.

Positive Child Guidance, an award-winning birth to twelve textbook, is currently in its ninth edition. This foundational text is used in numerous college courses in the United States and internationally.

Dr. Miller's publications include:

Positive Child Guidance (author). Cengage: NY. (French, Chinese, and Portuguese editions plus international edition.)

“Montessori Infant and Toddler Programs: How Our Approach Meshes with Other Models” (author). Montessori Life: A Publication of the American Montessori Society, Vol. 23, No. 3, p 34-39 Fall 2011.

“Science for Babies” (author). Montessori Life, Vol. 16, No. 2, Montessori Life: A Publication of the American Montessori Society, Spring 2004.

“Early Crusade Planted Seeds for NHC Infant-and-Toddler Teacher Education Initiative” (author). Montessori Life, Vol. 16, No. 1, Montessori Life: A Publication of the American Montessori Society, Winter 2004.

L'éducation des Enfants Une Démarche Positive. (author). French translation of Positive Child Guidance. Institut des

technologies télématiques: Ontario, Canada, 1993.

Room to Grow: How To Create Quality Early Childhood Environments (chapter author). Linda Ard and Mabel Pitts (editors),

Texas Association for the Education of Young Children: Austin, Texas, 1990.

First Steps Toward Cultural Difference: Socialization in Infant/Toddler Day Care (author). Child Welfare League of America, Inc.:

Washington, DC, 1989. (Continuously in print 1989-2001; termed a Child Welfare League “classic” book.)

Curriculum Guide for Nutrition Education: Grades K-3 (co-author). Nutrition Education for the State of Mississippi (third edition),

a multidisciplinary approach to curriculum published by The University of Mississippi in cooperation with the Mississippi State Department of Education: Jackson, Mississippi; 1984. “Rebuilding Mississippi’s School System” (author). Essay selected for

Mississippi Committee for the Humanities award; published in eighteen Mississippi newspapers, 1984.

Activity And Resource Kaleidoscope: In-Service Training for Day Care Personnel (editor, media producer, and primary author).

University of Mississippi Press: Oxford, Mississippi, 1982. Set has fourteen modules (each module includes a manual, slide

presentation, and other resources).