Examining Racial Segregation in Montessori Schools
A National Analysis of Enrollment Patterns and Sector Differences
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17161/jomr.v11i1.23638Keywords:
racial segregation, Montessori schools, enrollment patternsAbstract
This study examines racial enrollment patterns in Montessori schools across the United States and evaluates how these schools relate to broader patterns of school segregation. Using a national dataset of public and private Montessori and non-Montessori schools, we analyze Montessori programs’ racial composition, demographic alignment with surrounding districts and neighborhoods, and contribution to within-district segregation. We estimate 37 percent of Montessori students are Black or Hispanic, with notable variation across school sectors. Further, we find Black or Hispanic students are underrepresented in many Montessori schools as compared to school district averages. Our multivariate analyses suggest Montessori schools contribute slightly more to within-district segregation than do non-Montessori schools, primarily due to enrollment patterns in private Montessori schools. Though Montessori education emphasizes inclusivity and cultural responsiveness, variation in enrollment patterns suggests access remains uneven across school sectors. This study examines the relationship between school choice, segregation, and the Montessori model, providing a baseline for evaluating current efforts to improve accessibility and inclusivity in Montessori schools nationwide.
References
Alcaino, M., & Jennings, J. L. (2020). How increased school choice affects public school enrollment and school segregation. Annenberg Institute at Brown University. https://edworkingpapers.com/ai20-258
American Montessori Society. (n.d.). Fast facts: public Montessori schools. Retrieved February 14, 2025, from https://amshq.org/About-AMS/Press-kit/Public-Schools
Ansari, A., & Winsler, A. (2022). The long-term benefits of Montessori pre-K for Latinx children from low income families. Applied Developmental Science, 26(2), 252–266. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888691.2020.1781632
Ashenfelter, O., Collins, W. J., & Yoon, A. (2006). Evaluating the role of Brown v. Board of Education in school equalization, desegregation, and the income of African Americans. American Law and Economics Review, 8(2), 213–248. https://doi.org/10.1093/aler/ahl001
Association Montessori International / USA. (2022, March 11). Our response to The New Yorker article. AMI/USA. https://amiusa.org/news/our-response-to-the-new-yorker-article/
Bankston, C., & Caldas, S. (2000). White enrollment in nonpublic schools, public school racial composition, and student performance. The Sociological Quarterly, 41, 539–550. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1533-8525.2000.tb00072.x
Betts, J. R., & Fairlie, R. W. (2001). Explaining ethnic, racial, and immigrant differences in private school attendance. Journal of Urban Economics, 50(1), 26–51. https://doi.org/10.1006/juec.2000.2207
Billingham, C. M., & Hunt, M. O. (2016). School racial composition and parental choice: new evidence on the preferences of white parents in the United States. Sociology of Education, 89(2), 99–117. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038040716635718
Billings, S. B., Deming, D. J., & Rockoff, J. (2014). School segregation, educational attainment, and crime: evidence from the end of using in Charlotte-Mecklenburg. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 129(1), 435–476. https://doi.org/10.1093/qje/qjt026
Brown, K. E. (2016). Racial diversity in Montessori charter schools. American Educational Research Association, Washington, DC.
Brown, K. E., & Steele, A. S. L. (2015). Racial discipline disproportionality in Montessori and traditional public schools: a comparative study using the Relative Rate Index. Journal of Montessori Research, 1(1), 14–27. https://doi.org/10.17161/jomr.v1i1.4941
Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954)
Clotfelter, C. T. (2004). Private schools, segregation, and the Southern states. Peabody Journal of Education, 79(2), 74–97. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327930pje7902_6
Davis, T. M. (2014). School choice and segregation: “tracking” racial equity in magnet schools. Education and Urban Society, 46(4), 399–433. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013124512448672
D’Cruz, G. (2022). Culturally sustaining practices in public Montessori schools: a landscape of the literature. Journal of Unschooling & Alternative Learning, 16(31), 1–20. https://jual.nipissingu.ca/wp-content/uploads/sites/25/2022/02/v14292.pdf
De Stefano, C. (2022). The child is the teacher: a life of Maria Montessori (G. Conti, Trans.). Other Press.
Debs, M. C. (2016). Racial and economic diversity in U.S. public Montessori schools. Journal of Montessori Research, 2(2), 15–34. https://doi.org/10.17161/jomr.v2i2.5848
Debs, M. C. (2019). Diverse families, desirable schools: public Montessori in the era of school choice. Harvard Education Press.
Debs, M. C., & Brown, K. E. (2017). Students of color and public Montessori schools: a review of the literature. Journal of Montessori Research, 3(1), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.17161/jomr.v3i1.5859
Fahle, E., Kane, T. J., Reardon, S. F., & Staiger, D. O. (2024). The first year of pandemic recovery: a district level analysis. Center for Education Policy Research & The Educational Opportunity Project. https://educationrecoveryscorecard.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/ERS-Report-Final-1.31.pdf
Fleming, D. J., & Culclasure, B. (2024). Exploring public Montessori education: equity and achievement in South Carolina. Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 38(3), 459–484. https://doi.org/10.1080/02568543.2023.2283202
Fleming, D. J., MacDonald, M., & Roberts, J. (2024). Exploring the dynamics of policy diffusion: the rise of public Montessori education in South Carolina. Journal of Political Science, 51(1). https://digitalcommons.coastal.edu/jops/vol51/iss1/1
Frankenberg, E., Farrington, C., DeBray, E. H., Siegel Hawley, G., Leibovitz, T., McCollum, S., Scott, J., & McDermott, K. A. (2025). Eroding integration: 21st century segregation trends in U.S. public and charter schools and implications for the enduring promise of Brown. Urban Education, 00420859251329310. https://doi.org/10.1177/00420859251329310
Frankenberg, E., Siegel-Hawley, G., & Wang, J. (2011). Choice without equity: charter school segregation. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 19, 1. https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.v19n1.2011
Gillborn, D. (2015). Intersectionality, critical race theory, and the primacy of racism: race, class, gender, and disability in education. Qualitative Inquiry, 21(3), 277–287. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800414557827
Guryan, J. (2004). Desegregation and black dropout rates. American Economic Review, 94(4), 919–943. https://doi.org/10.1257/0002828042002679
Johnson, R. C. (2011). Long-run impacts of school desegregation & school quality on adult attainments (Working Paper 16664). National Bureau of Economic Research. https://doi.org/10.3386/w16664
Johnson, R. C. (2012). The grandchildren of Brown: the long legacy of school desegregation. Presented November 12, 2015, University of North Carolina at Charlotte Center City.
Kahn, D. (1990). Implementing Montessori education in the public sector. Montessori Public School Consortium, Cleveland State University, Rhodes Tower, Room 1319, E. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED327286
Ladd, H. F., Clotfelter, C. T., & Holbein, J. B. (2016). The growing segmentation of the charter school sector in North Carolina. Education Finance and Policy, 12(4), 536–563. https://doi.org/10.1162/edfp_a_00226
Lillard, A. S. (2016). Montessori: the science behind the genius. Oxford University Press.
Lillard, A. S., Taggart, J., Yonas, D., & Batson-Seale, M. N. (2023). An alternative to “no excuses”: considering Montessori as culturally responsive pedagogy. Journal of Negro Education, 92(3), 301–324.
Lillard, A. S., Tong, X., & Bray, P. M. (2023). Seeking racial and ethnic parity in preschool outcomes: an exploratory study of public Montessori schools vs. business-as-usual schools. Journal of Montessori Research, 9(1). https://doi.org/10.17161/jomr.v9i1.19540
Lutz, B. (2011). The end of court-ordered desegregation. American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 3(2), 130–168. https://doi.org/10.1257/pol.3.2.130
Milliken v. Bradley, 418 U.S. 717 (1974)
Monarrez, T., Kisida, B., & Chingos, M. (2019). When is a school segregated? Making sense of segregation 65 years after Brown v. Board of Education [Research Report]. Urban Institute. https://www.urban.org/research/publication/when-school-segregatedmaking-sense-segregation-65-years-after-brown-vboard-education
Monarrez, T., Kisida, B., & Chingos, M. (2022). The effect of charter schools on school segregation. American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 14(1), 301–340. https://doi.org/10.1257/pol.20190682
Murnane, R. J., & Reardon, S. F. (2018). Long-term trends in private school enrollments by family income. AERA Open, 4(1), 2332858417751355. https://doi.org/10.1177/2332858417751355
Murnane, R. J., Reardon, S. F., Mbekeani, P. P., & Lamb, A. (2018). Who goes to private school? Education Next, 18(4). https://www.proquest.com/docview/2231470176/abstract/D1559CA94FE940FEPQ/1
Murray, A. (2008). Public perceptions of Montessori education [Ph.D. dissertation]. University of Kansas. Murray, A., & Peyton, V. (2008). Public Montessori elementary schools: a delicate balance. Montessori Life, 20(4), 26–30. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ819578
Musu-Gillette, L., de Brey, C., McFarland, J., Hussar, W., Sonnenberg, W., & Wilkinson-Flicker, S. (2017). Status and trends in the education of racial and ethnic groups 2017. NCES 2017-051. National Center for Education Statistics. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED574873
Orem, R. C. (1968). Montessori for the disadvantaged: an application of Montessori educational principles to the war on poverty. Capricorn Books, New York, N.
Orfield, G., & Lee, C. (2007). Historic reversals, accelerating resegregation, and the need for new integration strategies. The Civil Rights Project. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8h02n114
Pack, G. (2017). The case for magnet schools. In R. A. Fox & N. K. Buchanan (Eds.), The Wiley Handbook of School Choice (1st ed., pp. 180–193). Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119082361.ch12
Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1, 551 U.S. 701 (2007)
Parham, J. (2022). The Montessori bibliography online: a resource for the global Montessori community. Journal of Montessori Research, 8(1). https://doi.org/10.17161/jomr.v8i1.16425
Potter, H., & Quick, K. (2018). Diverse-by-design charter schools. The Century Foundation.
Reardon, S. F., Fahle, E., Heewon Jang, & Weathers, E. (2022). Why school desegregation still matters (a lot). Educational Leadership, 80(4), 38–44.
Reardon, S. F., Kalogrides, D., & Shores, K. (2019). The geography of racial/ethnic test score gaps. American Journal of Sociology, 124(4), 1164–1221. https://doi.org/10.1086/700678
Reardon, S. F., & Owens, A. (2014). 60 years after Brown: trends and consequences of school segregation. Annual Review of Sociology, 40(40), 199. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-soc-071913-043152
Reardon, S. F., & Owens, A. (2024, May 6). The state of segregation: 70 years after Brown. The Unfinished Legacy of Brown v. Board of Education at 70, Stanford University.
Reardon, S. F., Weathers, E. S., Fahle, E. M., Jang, H., & Kalogrides, D. (2024). Is separate still unequal? New evidence on school segregation and racial academic achievement gaps. American Sociological Review, 89(6), 971–1010. https://doi.org/10.1177/00031224241297263
Reardon, S. F., & Yun, J. T. (2002). Private school racial enrollments and segregation. Civil Rights Project, Harvard University. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED467108
Reardon, S. F., & Yun, J. T. (2003). Integrating neighborhoods, segregating schools: The retreat from school desegregation in the South, 1990–2000. North Carolina Law Review, 81(4), 1563–1596.
Reber, S. J. (2010). School desegregation and educational attainment for blacks. The Journal of Human Resources, 45(4), 893–914. https://doi.org/10.3368/jhr.45.4.893
Renzulli, L. A., & Evans, L. (2005). School choice, charter schools, and white flight. Social Problems, 52(3), 398–418. https://doi.org/10.1525/sp.2005.52.3.398
Siegel-Hawley, G., & Frankenberg, E. (2012). Reviving magnet schools: strengthening a successful choice option. A research brief. Civil Rights Project. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED529163
Stroub, K. J., & Richards, M. P. (2013). From resegregation to reintegration: trends in the racial/ethnic segregation of metropolitan public schools, 1993–2009. American Educational Research Journal, 50(3), 497–531. https://doi.org/10.3102/0002831213478462
Taylor Haynes, K., Phillips, K. J. R., & Goldring, E. B. (2010). Latino parents’ choice of magnet school: how school choice differs across racial and ethnic boundaries. Education and Urban Society, 42(6), 758– 789. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013124510370943
Urban Institute. (2020). Index of school contribution to the racial segregation of US school districts [Dataset]. Available under the ODC-BY 1.0 Attribution License. https://datacatalog.urban.org/dataset/index-school-contribution-racialsegregation-us-school-districts
Weiner, D. A., Lutz, B. F., & Ludwig, J. (2009). The effects of school desegregation on crime [SSRN Scholarly Paper 1478798]. Social Science Research Network. https://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=1478798
White, J., & Huang, L. (2022). A census of all specialized charter school foci and models. Journal of School Choice, 16(1), 11–42. https://doi.org/10.1080/1558 2159.2021.1995692
Whitehurst, G. J., Reeves, R. V., Joo, N., & Rodrigue, E. (2017). Balancing act: schools, neighborhoods, and racial imbalance. Brookings Institution.
Winter, J. (2022, March 3). The miseducation of Maria Montessori. The New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/books/under-review/themiseducation-of-maria-montessori
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 David J. Fleming, TJ Robertson, Josebell Rivadeneira Cevallos
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
