Children admitted by random lottery to high-fidelity Montessori schools performed better or the same as waitlisted controls on academic, executive function, and social measures, never worse¶
Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · reviewr2·q2
Currency · newest study 2019 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person
Subclaims¶
Reading the evidence codes
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q2 i? In two lottery-based studies, Montessori children outperformed or matched waitlisted controls on academic achievement, executive function, social cognition, and positive peer play. → Angeline S. Lillard 2019
Evidence¶
Angeline S. Lillard 2019¶
Angeline S. Lillard. (2019). Shunned and Admired: Montessori, Self-Determination, and a Case for Radical School Reform. Educational Psychology Review. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-019-09483-3
q2 · i? · review · r2
The review reports the Lillard and Else-Quest (2006) lottery study of 5- and 12-year-olds at an AMI-recognized public Montessori school in Milwaukee versus waitlist controls, where "they performed better than waitlisted controls" on the named subtests and social measures, and never worse on any measure.
"at age 5, they performed better than waitlisted controls on the Woodcock-Johnson Letter-Word, Word Attack, and Applied Problems subtests, and on tests of executive function, social problem-solving, and social cognition"
Discussion¶
Related Claims¶
- Low-income children in high-fidelity Montessori significantly closed the achievement gap with higher-income children by the end of a longitudinal lottery study — related
- Implementation fidelity matters: classrooms using only Montessori materials produced greater gains than classrooms mixing in other materials — related
- Tools of the Mind and Montessori curricula improve children's EFs, with Tools children outperforming controls especially on more EF-demanding conditions — related
- Nature-based instruction improves academic achievement over traditional instruction, with larger gains at larger doses — related
- Children attending alternative schools (Montessori, Steiner) outperform mainstream-school children on figural divergent and convergent thinking measures — related
Page metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
type |
claim |
id |
montessori-lottery-studies-better-or-same-outcomes |
title |
Children admitted by random lottery to high-fidelity Montessori schools performed better or the same as waitlisted controls on academic, executive function, and social measures, never worse |
description |
Children admitted by random lottery to high-fidelity Montessori schools performed better or the same as waitlisted controls on academic, executive function, and social measures, never worse |
status |
review |
evidence_strength |
moderate |
newest_evidence |
2019 |
generated |
by process:wiki-ingest on 2026-10-19 |
trust |
unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content |
sources |
1 — angeline-s-lillard-2019 |
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