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…

In this study, we asked whether Montessori schools, which tend to have high student engagement, are associated with lower average rates of chronic absenteeism and/or smaller racial disparities therein relative to non-Montessori schools. We use multilevel modeling to answer this question, following an approach proposed in Author et al., (in press)…

In this paper, we report the results of a qualitative study examining the development of leadership competencies as Montessori school leaders gain experience using a coaching protocol with their teachers. Extending previous work, the emphasis is on the school leaders' specific roles as instructional supervisors leading reflective practices.…

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…

Although Montessori is the most common unconventional education model, no multi-state study has compared standardized test proficiency of Montessori schools with districts. Here we report on this for the 10 states/regions with the most public Montessori schools (n = 195). In 3rd grade, Montessori schools were less proficient in math but more…

Although Montessori is the most common unconventional education model, no multi-state study has compared standardized test proficiency of Montessori schools with districts. Here we report on this for the 10 states/regions with the most public Montessori schools (n = 195). In 3rd grade, Montessori schools were less proficient in math but more…

Montessori Education is over a century old. Since its inception, Montessori schools have been opened worldwide. While most are pre-schools serving three- to six-year-old children, many people are not aware that Montessori spoke and wrote about middle level education before her death in 1952. Her concept for the Erdkinder, an intentionally designed…

Advances in technology have changed the world. Finding effective means for incorporating technology in the learning environment is important to educators. One of the newer strategies is blended learning, which is also known as flipped instruction. With this mode of instructional delivery, teachers maintain the role of instructional leader but…

Environmental stewardship is an integral aspect of the Montessori curriculum. It usually includes care of the school's setting (classrooms, grounds, gardens, eating areas, etc.) and, depending on each school's unique situation, ideally extends into the larger environment in which the school is situated. Environmental stewardship is meant to help…

The founders of Montessori For All, which opened Magnolia Montessori--a PK-8 public charter school in Austin, Texas--created a new school model that blends the best of authentic Montessori schooling (hands-on and self-directed learning) with best practices from high-performing charter schools (basic skills mastery to excel on standardized tests…

In 2014, the American Montessori Society (AMS) School Accreditation Commission, with the support of the AMS Board of Directors, reaffirmed the importance of 3-year multiage classrooms, making that 3-year range the standard for accreditation for Montessori Early Childhood, Lower Elementary, and Upper Elementary programs (American Montessori…

Martha Haakmat writes in this article that in some ways she understands why parents might have a harder time understanding why Montessori is education at its best, especially as their children progress past preschool. Haakmat goes on to say that the learning path at Montessori schools is more proactive. Montessori schools ask that parents partner…

In a gentrifying area of St. Louis, Missouri, City Garden Montessori School is an integrated haven in a segregated city, as well as an active voice for racial justice and reconciliation. Realizing its power to both reflect and change its neighborhood, the school commits itself to harnessing its unique position to push for effective public policy…

The author could not contain herself one day at school recently when a parent of three children shared something she had heard from her eldest daughter. That morning, the eldest daughter was grumbling about the fact that she and her Lower Elementary brother had to go to school while her Preschool brother did not, and she announced to her mother,…

Providing a meaningful and experiential learning environment for all students has long created a concern for alternate ways to teach students who are reportedly demonstrating non-mastery on state standardized assessments. As the benchmark for showing successful academic achievement increases, so does the need for discovering effective ways for…