Study of the Impact of the Montessori Preschool Model in Public Schools
Although the Montessori model has expanded into public schools in recent years, no large-scale evaluation of the efficacy of the Montessori preschool model for developing children's academic, social, and emotional skills has been conducted. The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of Montessori preschool education on children's early academic and social-emotional skills.
Children were randomly assigned to Montessori schools or to a wait list (control group) within lotteries at each participating school or district. Through this randomized controlled trial (RCT) design, the study will compare children who enter Montessori programs at age 3 and attend for 2 years prior to kindergarten with their peers who participate in other early care and education experiences during those 2 years.
The study includes direct assessments of students’ early academic skills, social-emotional development, and executive functioning, as well as observational measures and teacher surveys to estimate fidelity to the Montessori model to examine how fidelity might moderate child outcomes. The team is also conducting an analysis of the costs of the public Montessori preschool model compared with more traditional preschool models in public schools. Study findings will be available later in 2025.
Researchers can request publicly available data and documentation from the study (through PK4) through the AIR team by contacting Juliette Berg.
The research described here was supported by the Institute of Education Sciences in the U.S. Department of Education, through grant R305A180181 to AIR. The opinions expressed are those of the study team and do not represent views of the Institute or the U.S. Department of Education.
