Public Montessori programs strengthen learning outcomes at lower costs: study

Summary

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain The first national randomized trial of public Montessori preschool students showed stronger long-term outcomes by kindergarten, including elevated reading, memory, and executive function as compared to non-Montessori preschoolers. The study of 588 children across two dozen programs nationwide shows an imperative to follow and study these outcomes through graduation and beyond. A new national study led by researchers from the University of Virginia, University of Pennsylvania and the American Institutes for Research found that Montessori preschool programs (ages 3 to 6) in public schools deliver stronger early learning outcomes for children—and at a sharply lower cost to school districts and taxpayers. The first randomized controlled trial of its kind, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, tracked nearly 600 children across 24 public Montessori programs nationwide. By the end of kindergarten, children who won a random lottery to attend public Montessori preschools outperformed their peers in reading, executive function, short-term memory, and social understanding—all while costing approximately $13,000 less per child than traditional preschool programs. Those costs do not include anticipated savings from improved teacher morale and retention, a dynamic demonstrated in other data. The findings, which have been vetted by third parties, contrast sharply with the prior common findings, where impacts of preschool were observed immediately following the program but then seemed to disappear by the end of kindergarten. "These findings affirm what Maria Montessori believed over a century ago—that when we trust children to learn with purpose and curiosity, they thrive," said Angeline Lillard, Commonwealth Professor of Psychology at the University of Virginia. "Public Montessori programs are not only effective but cost-efficient." "Montessori preschool programs are already being used in hundreds of U.S. public schools, ...