ÂÜÀòÍø

Education scholars have learned that Montessori programs provide many benefits to students, but these programs can be difficult to access. By increasing access to Montessori programs, school districts could benefit from an improvement in students’ academic performance. Students in Montessori programs have often performed well on measures of literacy (Rodriguez, Irby, Brown, Lara-Alecio, & Galloway, 2005; Mallett & Schroeder, 2015; Culclasure, Fleming, Riga, & Sprogis, 2018), math (Donabella & Rule, 2008; Brown & Lewis, 2017), and school readiness (Ansari & Winsler, 2014; Lillard & Heise, 2016). Montessori has also improved the academic success of students from low-income, Black and Brown communities (Ansari & Winsler, 2014; Brown & Lewis, 2017). Parents have voiced favorable attitudes toward Montessori programs and were satisfied with the impact it has had on their children (Hiles, 2018). But within the school choice and school reform landscape, Montessori is often excluded from the conversation, despite the research that highlights what Montessori can potentially do for families, students, and schools (Lillard, 2019). If programs like Montessori are demonstrably effective and popular, why aren’t there more of them? This study seeks to understand how school district leaders make decisions about alternative models for school improvement and reform, using Montessori as a focus.