Best of Class

Are Montessori schools better than their conventional counterparts?

By Eric Wills

Joe DiCarlo has long suspected that Montessori schools’ multiage classrooms, student-selected schoolwork, and lack of formal tests or letter grades cultivate students’ academic and social skills better than traditional schools.

It’s a “community where students are going to cooperate and get along and experience the enjoyment of learning,” he says.

DiCarlo is hardly impartial—he’s been a Montessori teacher for more than 15 years. But a recent study published in the journal Science appears to prove that, at least in Milwaukee, the 4th to 6th...