Montessori's theories, developed more than 100 years ago, certainly resonate with current psychological research on improving education. Autonomy, interest, competence, and relatedness form the foundation for three contemporary efforts to organize the vast literature on motivation into a parsimonious theory. These four elements also comprise fundamental aspects of Montessori elementary educational practice. By integrating modern motivation theory development with well-established Montessori practice, one could argue that Maria Montessori was a woman before her time. She was passionate in the early 1900s about the importance of students becoming actively engaged in their own learning. Montessori schools around the world today live that vision through practices that are beginning to be recognized as crucial to the formation of internal motivation. (Contains 1 figure.)