The Impact of the Montessori Early Childhood Model in PK–3

• In Event: Montessori Environments and Their Impact

Abstract

Despite the widespread popularity of the model, until now there has never been a rigorous national study of Montessori preschool education. The purpose of this study is to follow children whose families applied to public Montessori preschool programs via a lottery and to compare cognitive and socio-emotional outcomes of the students who were admitted with those wait listed, over time. The purpose of this paper is to present the study’s results to date, sharing Montessori students’ skills compared to the control group by the end of the PK3 year, and to investigate the role of fidelity of implementation to the Montessori model in supporting those first-year outcomes.

Authors

• Karen Manship, American Institutes for Research

• Mark Lachowicz, American Institutes for Research

• Dong Hoon Lee, American Institutes for Research

• Angeline S. Lillard, University of Virginia

• Juliette Berg, American Institutes for Research

• Alison Hauser, American Institutes for Research