To address inequality, philanthropists support "no excuses" schools in majority-Black low-income communities. While the model has raised achievement, its practices are problematic from a social justice lens. Montessori is a highly contrasting model, and over 25% of public Montessori students are Black. Here we examine whether Montessori…

To adults entering a Montessori classroom for the first time, the activities they observe may not seem particularly academic. Depending on the students' ages, children might be found working independently, having spirited discussions in small groups, or working on long-term projects. Inconspicuous teachers observe and take notes or give lessons to…

Most American classrooms employ a teacher-text-centered model of instruction that is misaligned with the developmental science of how children naturally learn. This article reviews that science and the origins of the common instructional model, including three modifications intended to make it work better (grades, age-graded classrooms, and…

Frontiers pioneered an alternative model of publishing: Rather than libraries paying subscription fees to publishers to give library communities access to journals full of articles written, reviewed and edited (at no or modest cost to the publishers) by their own faculty, they instead charge the authors to publish articles that are then made…

Wellbeing, or how people think and feel about their lives, predicts important life outcomes from happiness to health to longevity. Montessori pedagogy has features that enhance wellbeing contemporaneously and predictively, including self-determination, meaningful activities, and social stability. Here, 1905 adults, ages 18-81 (M = 36), filled out…

The current paper investigates the structural validity of the Children's Concentration and Empathy Scale (CCES), which was designed based on Montessori's developmental theory to assess, using teacher ratings, the coherence of attention-related characteristics (concentration, empathy, and normalization) in children from 1.5 to 12 years old. The…

Montessori education was developed over 100 years ago, and persists as a marginal 'niche reform' of the standard model. Here I discuss two unresolved dichotomies in early childhood education -- the tension between work and play, and between structure and freedom. I explain how Montessori collapses and thereby resolves the dichotomies, and does so…

The math curriculum of the Montessori system of education for children ages 3-12 is distinctive, incorporating multiple manipulatives and educational practices which have theoretical and empirical support in research. However, studies investigating the math achievement and learning of Montessori students and alumni have not consistently found…

School reform is an important national and international concern. The Montessori alternative school system is unique in that it is well-aligned with the science of healthy development and learning, has strong social-emotional "and" academic outcomes, is virtually unchanged in over a century, can be applied across all the school years,…

Montessori pedagogy is a century-old, whole-school system increasingly used in the public sector. In the United States, public Montessori schools are typically Title I schools that mostly serve children of color. The present secondary, exploratory data analysis examined outcomes of 134 children who entered a lottery for admission to public…

Scientists have long employed puppets in research with young children; this essay explores the validity of this practice. After considering what puppets are, their main types and history, I note the different ways puppets have been employed in research. One of these uses raises the issue of whether and when children apply their theory of mind to…

The CLASS-PreK instrument is widely used to evaluate early childhood classrooms, but how classrooms using Montessori, the world's most common alternative education system, fare on CLASS is understudied. Because CLASS focuses largely on teacher-child interactions as the situs of learning, but in Montessori theory, child-environment interactions are…

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 pedagogy is a century-old, whole-school system increasingly used in the public sector. In the United States, public Montessori schools are typically Title I schools that mostly serve children of color. The present secondary, exploratory data analysis examined outcomes of 134 children who entered a lottery for admission to public…

Montessori education was developed over 100 years ago, and persists as a marginal 'niche reform' of the standard model. Here I discuss two unresolved dichotomies in early childhood education -- the tension between work and play, and between structure and freedom. I explain how Montessori collapses and thereby resolves the dichotomies, and does so…