Many Montessorians uphold the belief that, for children, work is preferable to play, and that play, especially fantasy play, is antithetical to work. In recent years, children have experienced disruption to their social and emotional development as a result of COVID-19 lockdowns. Recent research suggests that play in a variety of forms is a…

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.…

This study examined selected parameters of two newly developed measures called AEPS-3 Ready-Set and Ready-Set Family Assessment of Children's Skills (FACS). Ready-Set is a school readiness measure designed to gather information from teachers or other professionals on children's kindergarten school readiness skills across important developmental…

The author describes their experience, as a Black woman, during the beginning of their teaching career. The author describes experiences in school as a young student, within their community, and as an adult out in public and in their early career. The author discusses their assimilation from childhood, and eventual transition to teaching within a…

This article reports on findings from an ethnographic and comparative study examining interactions between educational systems and mutual respect in classrooms. I define mutual respect as the work of intervening on power asymmetries typically found in classrooms--both between teachers and students, and among students--by way of according children…

As attrition rates of teachers remain a concern and the establishment of Montessori public schools increases in the United States, studying the needs satisfaction of Montessori public school teachers is a way to address issues of retainment. This qualitative methods study used the Self-Determination Theory framework to guide an analysis of factors…

How do educators begin the journey of decolonizing--replacing solely Western interpretations of history with BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, people of color) perspectives, and restoring BIPOC culture and traditional ways--when the entire educational system was built to support, affirm, and uphold white supremacy (Indigenous Corporate Training, Inc.,…

Parents and caregivers want to shield children from life's difficult moments. But learning how to deal with fear and distress is an important skill that will help a child not only in childhood moments of duress but also later in life. Caregivers can support children in their care by giving them tools to deal with difficult situations that create…

Montessori educators face increasing demands to support growing numbers of students who have developmental delays or disabilities, and early detection and support are essential. Yet, detecting developmental delays is a complex task, and early childhood educators do not typically receive specialized training. The Ages and Stages Questionnaires…

This qualitative study reveals the experiences of teachers who work in public preschools using their initiative and effort to implement Montessori education in their classes. Data were collected from five Montessori-inspired teachers from different cities in Turkey. Study teachers were well known for their Montessori practices. Since they were in…

School liking shows clear associations with academic success, yet we know little about how it changes over levels of schooling, what predicts liking school at each level, or how attending alternative schools like Montessori might impact liking. To better understand school liking across time and education settings, we surveyed adults about how much…

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)…

The author has established a tradition of putting together a "stick bundle" that symbolizes the community in her Montessori Early Childhood classroom. In the first month of the school year, each member of the classroom finds a stick from the outdoor playground area and brings it back into the classroom. This article presents how the…

This paper expands on previous work on charter school typology and presents disparities in standardized test outcomes across models by using standardized Z-Scores weighted by NAEP performance. Analyses indicate that in ELA, Classical schools have the highest relative performance, followed by Montessori and Art schools. In math, Classical schools…

In the past few decades important work has been undertaken to unsettle essentialist conceptualisations of gender/sex in the early years workforce. Through an auto/ethnographic diffractive engagement that thinks with feminist 'new' materialist and postcolonial scholarships, this paper uncovers the need to move beyond an exclusive focus on…