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Effects of Montessori Education on the Academic, Cognitive, and Social Development of Disadvantaged Preschoolers: A Randomized Controlled Study in the French Public‐School System
Author(s) -
Courtier Philippine,
Gardes MarieLine,
Van der Henst JeanBaptiste,
Noveck Ira A.,
Croset MarieCaroline,
EpinatDuclos Justine,
Léone Jessica,
Prado Jérôme
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
child development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.103
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1467-8624
pISSN - 0009-3920
DOI - 10.1111/cdev.13575
Subject(s) - disadvantaged , psychology , curriculum , montessori method , developmental psychology , cognitive development , early childhood education , cognition , flexibility (engineering) , reading (process) , mathematics education , pedagogy , mathematics , statistics , neuroscience , political science , law
Previous research on Montessori preschool education is inconsistent and prone to analytic flexibility. In this preregistered study, disadvantaged preschoolers in a French public school were randomly assigned to either conventional or Montessori classrooms, with the latter being adapted to French public education. Adaptations included fewer materials, shorter work periods, and relatively limited Montessori teacher training. Cross‐sectional analyses in kindergarten ( N = 176; M age = 5–6) and longitudinal analyses over the 3 years of preschool ( N = 70; M age = 3–6) showed that the adapted Montessori curriculum was associated with outcomes comparable to the conventional curriculum on math, executive functions, and social skills. However, disadvantaged kindergarteners from Montessori classrooms outperformed their peers on reading ( d = 0.68). This performance was comparable to that of advantaged children from an accredited Montessori preschool.