In a span of about three days in the spring of 2023, the author's Instagram feed became inundated with mentions of artificial intelligence (AI), including Chat GPT, text-to-image models, and much more. She would turn on the radio and hear about the controversy surrounding AI, or look at her cousin's social media posts about the injustices of her…

Learning to read is one of the most important components of education and literacy skills in early childhood have a significant impact on later reading success. There is an abundance of quantitative research focused on reading, known as the science of reading. However, gaps and flaws have been identified in the research, indicating that an…

Given the current tumultuous education climate, we as EdD faculty seek to engage in critical reflection and reimagine the affordances--opportunities for action (Gee, 2008; Gibson, 2014)--provided by our program structures and our teaching practices. In this article, three faculty members (including one department chair and one interim program…

When Daisy Han first encountered a Montessori classroom, she actually felt free. Free to move, free to create, free to explore, free to try, free to fail, free to be. This freedom is essential to becoming an innovator. Innovators possess an irreverence almost as big as their self-efficacy, both of which have been nurtured in an environment where…

Montessori is a highly individualized pedagogy that prioritizes following each child's individual interests over standardized test scores. This quasi-experimental study compares groups of Montessori students (treatment groups, N = 535-710) with control groups of non-Montessori students, matched through the simple matching method, which controls…

ADHD (Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder) is a common neurological disorder that causes a person to have difficulty self-regulating (Daley & Birchwood, 2010a). A child displaying symptoms of ADHD may be impulsive, hyperactive, and/or inattentive, which increases the likelihood of academic failure and behavior difficulties. While symptoms…

Africa is rich in natural resources and magnificent flora and fauna; it is also a place full of kind and hospitable people and as diverse in cultures and traditions as any other continent. The author was born in Uganda, in East Africa, and lived there until 2008, when she relocated to the United States to join her husband, a university professor.…

Numerous students across the United States are observed as being disengaged and bored in several of their learning experiences. Similarly, innumerable students also self-report being bored and disengaged. Over 40% of South Carolina (SC) students in Grades 3-8 report being compliant, disengaged, or mixed in all three domains (behaviorally,…

Montessori education is characterized by autonomous learning, whereas traditional education is often depicted by high structure and fewer choice opportunities. This study examined differences in beliefs of Montessori and traditional teachers in regard to effectiveness, normality, and ease of autonomy-supportive and controlling teaching, as well as…

As an expression of personal and group identity, recognizing holidays conveys to others what teachers and their school value. Each child constructs a complex identity through experiences with their environment, "including" the holidays observed and valued by their family and broader culture. When a school community represents a child's…

Teacher knowledge needed for teaching is widely studied to characterize its key categories. We report findings from a study on teachers' knowledge for mathematics in the Montessori schools. In Montessori accredited schools, teachers learn to teach mathematics in ways different from the teachers themselves experienced in non-Montessori schools. We…

This study offers a contextualized understanding of the distance-learning experiences of Montessori educators and students in the spring of 2020 in the wake of the COVID-19 global pandemic. In this article, we build on results reported in a separate article published in this issue of the "Journal of Montessori Research." First, we…

The transition to distance learning in the spring of 2020 caused by COVID-19 was particularly challenging for Montessori educators and students because key elements of the Method were not directly transferable to this new and hastily designed format. Hands-on learning with Montessori materials and learning in a community, as well as careful…