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Education
Angeline Lillard, et al.
Science 313, 1893 (2006);
DOI: 10.1126/science.1132362
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EDUCATIONFORUM
THE EARLY YEARS
An analysis of students’ academic and social scores compares a Montessori school with
other elementary school education programs.
M
ontessori education is a 100-year- this potential source of bias, because parents did not contribute significantly to any of the
old method of schooling that was are the dominant influence on child out- differences reported here. Children at the
first used with impoverished pre- comes (5). Montessori school were drawn from all six
school children in Rome. The program con- classrooms at the primary level and all four at
tinues to grow in popularity. Estimates indi- Recruitment the upper elementary level. The control chil-
cate that more than 5000 schools in the We contacted parents of children who had dren were at non-Montessori schools: 27 pub-
the experimental (Montessori) group, and tive function, thought to be important to suc-
0
those who were not accepted were assigned cess in school. On one such test, children
to the control (other education systems) were asked to sort cards by one rule, switch
group. This strategy addressed the concern –0.2 to a new rule, and (if they did well) then
that parents who seek to enroll their child in switch to a compound rule. Montessori chil-
a Montessori school are different from par- –0.4 dren performed significantly better on this
ents who do not. It is crucial to control for Montessori Control test. A test of children’s ability to delay grat-
WJ letter-word False belief (social cognition) ification (a treat) did not indicate statisti-
WJ word attack Refers to justice
1Department of Psychology, University of Virginia P.O. WJ applied math Positive shared play
cally significant differences.
Box 400400, Charlottesville, VA 22904, USA. 2Department Card sort (executive function) Ambiguous rough play Social/Behavioral Measures. Children were
of Psychology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI Results for 5-year-olds. Montessori students ach- given five stories about social problems, such
53202, USA. as another child hoarding a swing, and were
ieved higher scores [converted to average z scores
*Author for correspondence. E-mail: lillard@virginia.edu (18)] for both academic and behavioral tests. asked how they would solve each problem (9).
Montessori children were significantly more tive assertive response (for example, ver- social effects, which are generally dominated
likely (43% versus 18% of responses) to use a bally expressing one’s hurt feelings to the by the home environment (17).
higher level of reasoning by referring to justice host). On a questionnaire regarding their Future research could improve on the
or fairness to convince the other child to relin- feelings about school, Montessori children research design here by following lottery par-
quish the object. Observations at the play- indicated having a greater sense of commu- ticipants prospectively and by tracking those
ground during recess indicated Montessori nity, responding more positively to items who drop out and examining their reasons. It
children were significantly more likely to be such as, “Students in my class really care would be useful to replicate these findings in
involved in positive shared peer play and sig- about each other” and “Students in this class different Montessori schools, which can vary
nificantly less likely to be involved in rough treat each other with respect.” widely. The school involved here was affili-
play that was ambiguous in intent (such as ated with AMI/USA, which has a traditional
wrestling without smiling). Benefits of Montessori Education and relatively strict implementation. It would
The False Belief task was administered to On several dimensions, children at a public also be useful to know whether certain com-
examine children’s understanding of the inner city Montessori school had superior ponents of Montessori (e.g., the materials or
mind (10). Recognition that people repre- outcomes relative to a sample of Montessori the opportunities for collaborative work) are
sent the world in subjective as well as objec- applicants who, because of a random lottery, associated with particular outcomes.
tive ways is a landmark achievement in attended other schools. By the end of kinder- Montessori education has a fundamen-
they were 5. If the latter, one for All, considered a highly suc- 15. M. W. Lipsey, Ann. Am. Acad. Polit. Soc. Sci. 587, 69 (2003).
possible explanation is that the cessful reading intervention, 16. L. J. Cronbach et al., Toward Reform of Program
0
Evaluation: Aims, Methods, and Institutional
12-year-olds started at the reported a quarter of a standard Arrangments (Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, 1980).
–0.1
school when it was in its third deviation as its largest effect 17. NICHD Early Child-Care Research Network, Am. Ed. Res. J.
year. The Montessori method –0.2 size (for Word Attack) in a 42, 537 (2005).
18. The z-score conversion was used for the graph to give all
relies on peer teaching and –0.3 randomized field trial, and tests the same metric. A z score sets the mean (in this
modeling, so those who are in stated that it was equal to a case of the entire sample) at 0, one standard deviation
–0.4 above the mean at 1.68, and one standard deviation
the early classes of a new school Montessori Control
4.69-month advance in reading
below the mean at –1.68.
lack some advantages relative skills (14). Stronger effects are 19. Funding was provided by the Jacobs and Cantus Foundations
Sophisticated sentence structures
to those who begin later. Creative story often found in the first years and sabbatical fellowships from the Cattell Foundation and
Social/Behavioral Measures. Positive social strategies of pilot programs when re- the University of Virginia to A.L. J. DeLoache, B. Detmer,
Sense of school as community L. Ma, A. Pinkham, R. Tai, and J. van Reet provided helpful
As a social skills test, 12-year- searchers are involved in comments, and E. Turkheimer provided valuable statistical
olds read six stories about Results for 12-year-olds. implementation of their own advice. We thank the Milwaukee schools that participated;
Students in the Montessori pro-
social problems (such as not gram wrote more sophisticated programs (15), termed the “super- the children and their families; and A. Hart, T. Nishida,
A. Pinkham, J. van Reet, and B. Rosen.
being asked to a party) and and creative stories and showed realization effect” (16). In our
were asked to choose among a more developed sense of com- study, the school did not antici- Supporting Online Material
four responses. Montessori munity and social skills. Scores pate an evaluation. Especially www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/313/5795/1893/DC1
12-year-olds were significantly were converted to average remarkable outcomes of the
more likely to choose the posi- z scores (18). Montessori education are the 10.1126/science.1132362