Carol Alver graduated from the University of Wisconsin with an undergraduate degree in Education and Human Services and a master’s degree in Supervision and Thanatology (the study of death and dying, including the medical, psychological, and sociologic aspects of it.) She completed her Montessori Primary training at the Washington Montessori Institute in 1965 and began teaching Montessori at the D. C. Society for Crippled Children that same year. That class was comprised of various diagnoses including cerebral palsy, autism, Down’s syndrome, spina bifida, aphasia and various degrees of both physical and mental disability.

In 1968 she moved to Madison, Wisconsin, where she administered and taught for four years before opening her own school in 1972. In both of these schools, approximately 1/3 of the children had special needs. That same year she became a workshop speaker for the North American Montessori Teachers Association (NAMTA) and continues to give workshops for Montessori teachers. She was president of NAMTA for 8 years and Vice-President for 12. In 1978 she began consulting for Association Montessori Internationale and continued in that capacity for 40 years.

Carol also trained Hospice Volunteers for 13 years and worked with terminally ill children and/or children suffering from grief and loss. She taught a course on Children and Grief and a course on Prejudice, Stereotypes and Value Systems at Key West College.

She volunteered as a Guardian Ad Litem for 13 years — working with abused, neglected, and abandoned children. She served on the Board of Voices for Kids for 9 years — which supports the Guardian Ad Litem program.  She worked as Hospice volunteer at several nursing homes and a volunteer at the Free Medical Clinic in Knoxville, TN.