Social Justice Education in an Urban Charter Montessori School

Banks, Kira Hudson; Maixner, R. Alex

doi:10.17161/jomr.v2i2.5066

Cited by 9 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Montessori teachers are uniquely positioned to enact culturally relevant and antiracist teaching practices if they do so thoughtfully and intentionally (Banks & Maixner, 2016;Debs & Brown, 2017). The remainder of this literature review centers critically conscious BIPOC educators' teaching practices in K-12 schools as they relate to anti-racist teaching and CRP/CSP.…”

Section: Many Montessori Training Centers and Schools Center Whitenes...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Critical Montessori Education: Centering BIPOC Montessori Educators and Their Antiracist Teaching Practices

D'Cruz

2024

Proceedings of the 2024 AERA Annual Meeting

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While many BIPOC Montessori educators engage in anti-racist and culturally responsive teaching, Montessori education remains predominantly race-evasive. As a philosophy, it is rooted in colorblind perspectives in its focus on "all children" and lack of explicit centering of BIPOC students' experiences. Teaching must account for race and racial lived realities in order to better support BIPOC students' ways of knowing in culturally relevant and sustaining ways. This study seeks to center the voices of BIPOC Montessori educators and disrupt the pattern of Montessori research conducted without a critical racial lens. Framed by Critical Race Theory, this study focuses on the strengths, assets, and anti-racist teaching practices that one BIPOC educator brings to her classroom. I use critical ethnographic methods to better understand how a © Copyright by Genevieve O. D'Cruz Ramos 2023 I would like to express my deepest appreciation to Dr. Rossina Zamora Liu, without whom I would not have been able to even conceive of writing this dissertation. Thank you for your guidance and encouragement, especially when it came to putting the work aside and deeply reflecting on my objectives for my work and area of study. I could not have imagined having an advisor and chair who balanced me out so well. I would also like to thank my entire dissertation committee; you have all influenced my writing and work in various ways, and I am deeply grateful to you for your support, feedback, and expertise. This endeavor would not have been possible without the members of the Montessori community, especially the late Joen Bettmann, my trainer, who helped me open my mind to Montessori being practiced in various ways. Without a deep commitment to Montessori philosophy, I would not be who I am today. I am also incredibly grateful to my friends and peers in the Montessori community (you know who you are), including the teacher featured in this paper. It was through a multitude of experiences and conversations with you that I was able to make my way through this program with a sense of focus and purpose. Special thanks to my colleagues in the TLPL department who supported me, wrote with me, agonized over deadlines with me, and distracted me when necessary. My sanity would not be intact without you.I am extremely grateful to my family, who have encouraged me along every step of this journey, including the steps leading up to it. I may not have gotten here without the words, "sure, go for a PhD," ringing in my head. Finally, words cannot express my gratitude to my husband,Enrique, for all of your support. Thank you for attempting to understand the world of academia, celebrating and sharing in my wins, and committing to an undying sense of belief in my abilities.Everyone always told you to marry a doctor, and here we finally are.

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Section: Many Montessori Training Centers and Schools Center Whitenes...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Critical Montessori Education: Centering BIPOC Montessori Educators and Their Antiracist Teaching Practices

D'Cruz

2024

Proceedings of the 2024 AERA Annual Meeting

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“…Recent qualitative studies consider other school culture foci, including character education (Bond, 2016), social justice education (Banks & Maixner, 2016), and kindness (Nazareno & Krafel, 2017) in which school curricula orient educational endeavors around larger goals such as values, equity, and care for others. Many charter schools have adopted specific curricular areas as the focus for their schools and school culture, such as science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), music, or language such as dual language, heritage, and bilingual schools.…”

Section: School Culture and Curriculum Modelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Charter schools after three decades: Reviewing the research on school organizational and instructional conditions

Dallavis

Berends

2023

EPAA

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Charter school policies have focused on improving three aspects of schools—autonomy, innovation, and accountability—with the intention of promoting advances in curriculum, instruction, and learning that lead to better student outcomes. However, most research on charter schools tends to neglect school organizational and instructional conditions. Overall, reviews show that charter schools have inconsistent effects on student achievement scores, a finding that masks heterogeneous effects among different types of charter schools, operators of charter schools, and authorizers of charter schools and the organizational and instructional conditions under which they operate. This systematic review of the literature focuses on what we know about the organization of charter schools and the resources—material, human, and social as well as professional development and teaching practices—within them. We end by identifying gaps where more research is needed.

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“…The impact of Montessori education varies with factors such as teacher ethnicity, the integration of a culturally responsive setting, and overall enrollment of a diverse student body (Ansari & Winsler, 2014;Banks & Maixner, 2016;Brown & Lewis, 2017;Debs & Brown, 2017;Rodriguez, Irby, Brown, Lara-Alecio, & Galoway, 2005;Schonleber, 2011). The research of Ansari and Winsler (2014) and Rodriguez et al (2005) addressed program impact based on factors such as the length of evaluations and research that disaggregates Montessori classroom experiences by race and prompts consideration of impact in new ways (e.g., Brown & Lewis, 2017;Debs & Brown, 2017;Moody & Riga, 2011). For instance, Brown and Lewis (2017) found that Montessori education could be an effective pedagogy for Black students, particularly in the area of reading, where Montessori classroom students scored higher on state assessments when compared to students in other programs.…”

Section: Montessori Education In Settings With Diverse Studentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Montessori Education and a Neighborhood School

Burbank

Goldsmith

Spikner³

et al. 2020

JoMR

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Project SYNC (Systems, Yoked through Nuanced Collaboration) details perspectives of a community of stakeholders committed to the enhancement of early childhood (i.e., prekindergarten through grade 3) education. Although there is a growing number of public-school programs informed by the Montessori philosophy, Montessori educational experiences often take place within affluent communities. SYNC aimed to enhance the prekindergarten through grade 3 educational experiences for traditionally underserved students by transforming two traditional early childhood classrooms to Montessori settings within a diverse, Title I school. Montessori pedagogy, curricula, and materials aligned with the school’s dedicated commitment to social justice. The study, one in a series, explored the impact of Montessori education on a neighborhood school community as evidenced through stakeholder opinions, project implementation, and teacher attitudes. Project data illustrate that a Montessori educational experience created learning opportunities that supported children from culturally and ethnically diverse communities in a traditional, Title I elementary school.

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Social Justice Education in an Urban Charter Montessori School

Cited by 9 publications

References 21 publications

Critical Montessori Education: Centering BIPOC Montessori Educators and Their Antiracist Teaching Practices

Critical Montessori Education: Centering BIPOC Montessori Educators and Their Antiracist Teaching Practices

Charter schools after three decades: Reviewing the research on school organizational and instructional conditions

Montessori Education and a Neighborhood School

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