SOURCE: “Montessori Methods in Public Schools,” in The Education Digest, Vol. 56, No. 1, September, 1990, pp. 63-6.

In the following essay, Cohen discusses reasons for the failure of American public schools to adopt Montessori methods.

Although private schools remain the primary settings for Montessori instruction in the United States, the philosophy and methods identified with the movement have spread rapidly in the public system in the 1980s. First embraced by public educators in the mid-1970s as a theme for magnet programs designed to spur desegregation, the approach is now being used in about 110 public schools in 60 districts. Some 14,000 pupils were enrolled as of last year.

Many districts are expanding their programs into additional classrooms and schools, and five to seven new districts begin programs each year, according to the North American Montessori Teachers Association. Proponents say the “renaissance” is helping extend Montessori's benefits to a broader mix of students...