About

Who was Samuel Coleridge-Taylor?

Coleridge-Taylor Montessori Elementary has highly qualified teachers in multi-age classrooms that offer instruction with scientifically designed Montessori materials to match individual learning levels. We provide our students with as many global experiences as possible, and we relate learning activities to real-life situations so that all students reach their potential and are successful.

Our goal is to make all of our students reach their potential and be successful by:

  • Providing them with as many global and community experiences as possible.

  • Relating learning activities to real-life situations.

  • Providing multi-aged opportunities.

  • Using a variety of teaching strategies.

Who We Are as a School Community

Coleridge-Taylor Montessori (CTM) has been an educational institution for many generations. For the past 30 years, CTM has been a Montessori-program school. Montessori is an educational philosophy and method that was scientifically researched by Dr. Maria Montessori. Montessori studied child development and the ways children learn best from ages 3 through 11.

The Montessori learning environment offers hands-on learning tools specifically used in hands-on learning environments with opportunities for the multi-aged experience. Older students often guide or support younger students in lessons or activities as defined by the teaching team, which helps students grow in their leadership skills as they become the true keepers of the learning environment and tools. The curriculum in each classroom supports multiple levels and abilities to meet students academically along a continuum of skills.

Our Neighborhood

Coleridge-Taylor Montessori is located at 1115 West Chestnut Street in the historic Russell community of Louisville. Our neighborhood is named after renowned African-American educator Harvey Clarence Russell, Sr. and is home to many hallmarks of its history as a diverse and fashionable place to live since development began in the 1870s, including Victorian mansions, antebellum churches, and the Western Branch Library, which was the first public library open to African Americans in the United States.

Our school is located directly across from Central High School, where our pre-Primary students attend swimming classes and our soccer and running teams hold practices. We are within walking distance of Louisville’s Museum Row, making routine field trips to the Kentucky Science Center, Frazier History Museum, Kentucky Center for the Arts, and other educational partners. Additionally, we are just blocks from the Western Branch Library, 10th Street YMCA, Junior Achievement, and the Louisville Central Community Centers, where many of our students attend weekend, after-school, and summer programming

Marcia F. Carmichael-Murphy

Marcia F. Carmichael-Murphy

Principal

Marcia F. Carmichael-Murphy, Ed.D.|Dr. Marcia Carmichael-Murphy is a Louisville native and a proud product of Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS). Due to her life experiences as a foster child of Color, Dr. Carmichael-Murphy came to believe that safety-net programs and access to a quality education are the keys to self-sufficiency and self-actualization. She desires to support students in the holistic way that she was supported.

Dr. Carmichael-Murphy began her career in 2002 after graduating from Spalding University with a B.A. in social studies. Her first teaching assignment was in a World Civilizations classroom at Pleasure Ridge Park (PRP) High School. From 2003 to 2012, she taught and served at Doss High School in various capacities. She was a social studies teacher, department chair, Small Learning Communities coordinator, and interim assistant principal. In 2012, she had the opportunity to work for the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) as an Education Recovery Specialist serving Western and Iroquois High Schools. In this role, her interest was ignited in the Turnaround work done in Priority Schools. Shortly after the ending of the of the School Improvement Grant, she served at The Academy @ Shawnee as the Academic Instructional Coach to carry on the Turnaround work. During her time there, she was able to effect instructional change that increased student achievement and fostered systems that supported instructional growth of teachers.

In 2014, she became the College Access Resource Teacher at Fern Creek High School and later accepted a position there as assistant principal. In 2018, Dr. Carmichael-Murphy was honored to become the principal at Coleridge-Taylor Montessori Elementary. The tenets of the Montessori Framework speak to her philosophy of teaching on multiple levels, specifically providing a developmental and instructional scope and sequence, offering students choice and agency, providing opportunities to explore their world, and space to develop self-regulation. She is excited and thankful to lead a school of so many passionate and innovative professionals as they support students from our community. She is married and is the mother of 4 children—a high-schooler, a middle-schooler, and two CTM students. She is a proud supporter of JCPS and the fact that all of her children attend JCPS schools.