Rates of Chronic Absenteeism in Montessori and Non-Montessori Title I Schools

• In Event: AERA Poster Session 13
  In Poster Session: Montessori Education SIG Structured Poster Session: Advances in Research, Practice, and Equity (San Diego)

Abstract

Chronic absenteeism is both a symptom and driver of education inequality: Under-served students are more likely to be chronically absent and being chronically absent from school is predictive of lower academic achievement. In this study, we analyze data from the Civil Rights Data Collection to compare rates of chronic absenteeism in Montessori and non-Montessori Title 1 schools. We identified our sample using propensity score matching based on school-level characteristics to reduce the risk of selection bias in the results. Results from both parametric models and non-parametric testing (bootstrapping and permutation tests) indicate that overall rates of chronic absenteeism are significantly lower in Montessori schools.

Authors

• Lee Leboeuf, University of Virginia

• Jacob Goldstein-Greenwood

• Angeline Lillard