Montessori Preschool Cost Study
The Montessori model for preschool has only grown in popularity since it came to the United States, but it has never been rigorously evaluated compared with other preschool models and curricula. As Montessori options have expanded rapidly over the past 15 years in public schools across the country, a new study at AIR is taking advantage of admission lotteries used to enroll students in these public programs, to compare outcomes for students who were admitted to the Montessori programs with those of students who attended some other form of early childhood education.
Side by side with these impacts, it is also critical to understand the resources required to start up and operate both Montessori and other types of preschool programs in public schools. This cost analysis is working to summarize those differences in resources.
The research reported here was supported by the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, through Grant R305A180181 to American Institutes for Research. The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not represent views of the Institute or the U.S. Department of Education.
