Research | Beach Hill Montessori | Upper Beaches, Toronto

Montessori or Traditional Daycare?
What the Research Says

Every parent trying to decide what's best for their kid, deserves a straight answer. Not a brochure. Not a pitch. Just: what does the evidence actually say about how these two approaches shape young children?

We get this question from a lot from families. The Montessori name can feel loaded, a bit mysterious, maybe expensive, maybe just a trend. So let's unpack it honestly, starting with what each approach actually looks like day-to-day, and then what researchers have found when they've compared them.

First, What's the Actual Difference?

Traditional daycare and Montessori child care share the same basic goal: giving young children a safe, nurturing place to grow. But they take very different paths to get there.

In a conventional early childhood setting, a teacher typically leads the group with circle time, story time, craft time, with children moving together through a scheduled day. It works, kids enjoy it, and good traditional daycares do a genuinely wonderful job. The teacher is the guide, the curriculum is set, and the classroom runs on a shared rhythm.

A Montessori environment looks different the moment you walk in. Children are often working independently or in small groups, choosing from a curated set of hands-on materials at low shelves. The teacher observes carefully, offers individual lessons, and resists the urge to do things for children that they can do themselves. Mixed ages in a single classroom are intentional. There are no grades, no stickers for the "right" answer, and very little group instruction.

Dr. Maria Montessori, the Italian physician who developed the method in the early 1900s, built her approach around a radical idea: that children have an innate drive to learn, and that the adult's job is to prepare the environment and get out of the way.

"Children are not only capable of independence, they hunger for it. The task of education is to nourish that drive, not extinguish it." - Dr. Maria Montessori

What Does the Research Show?

Here's where it gets genuinely interesting. For decades, researchers have tried to measure whether Montessori actually produces better outcomes for children, and the evidence has grown considerably stronger in recent years.

Key Study — PNAS, 2025

The largest and most rigorous study to date — a randomized controlled trial tracking 588 children across 24 public Montessori programs — found that children in Montessori preschools outperformed peers on reading, executive function, short-term memory, and understanding others' perspectives by the end of kindergarten. Importantly, unlike many preschool programs where early gains fade, Montessori students' advantages continued to grow over time.

Lillard et al., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2025)

Meta-Analysis — Campbell Collaboration, 2023

A systematic review analyzing 32 studies concluded that Montessori education produces "modest but meaningful" positive effects on both academic outcomes (literacy, math) and non-academic outcomes including executive function, creativity, and social-emotional development — compared to conventional education.

Randolph et al., Campbell Systematic Reviews (2023)

Longitudinal Study — Frontiers in Psychology, 2017

A randomized lottery study following children ages 3–6 found Montessori students showed stronger academic achievement, theory of mind (the ability to understand that others have different thoughts and feelings), and a more positive relationship with school overall — even after controlling for family income.

Lillard et al., Frontiers in Psychology (2017)

A note on "executive function" — why it matters so much

You'll notice executive function comes up repeatedly in the research. This refers to the cluster of mental skills that govern self-regulation, focus, working memory, and the ability to shift attention, essentially the mental architecture that underlies everything from learning to read to making friends to handling frustration. Research consistently shows Montessori environments strengthen these skills, likely because children spend long stretches managing their own activity rather than being directed by an adult.

Where Traditional Daycare Has Real Strengths

It would be dishonest to suggest Montessori is categorically superior for every child in every situation. The research is encouraging, but it's worth being clear about what it doesn't say.

Quality matters enormously in both settings. A well-run traditional daycare with warm, responsive educators will serve children far better than a poorly implemented Montessori program. The 2025 PNAS study itself was careful to note that Montessori's advantages depended on faithful implementation, programs that deviated significantly from Montessori principles showed weaker results.

There were also a few areas where the most recent research found no significant difference, or even a slight edge for traditional programs. Children in conventional settings scored marginally higher on one measure of persistence (continuing to work on a difficult puzzle), and also showed a slight advantage in prompting peers to share, possibly because social-emotional learning is often taught more explicitly in traditional classrooms. These are worth knowing about.

And practically speaking: access, location, schedule flexibility, and cost are real. The best childcare for your family is one that actually works for your life.

Questions Worth Asking on Your Visits

Whether you're visiting a Montessori program or a traditional daycare, the questions below will help you cut through the marketing and see what's really happening. Use this as a checklist — tick them off as you go:

How is conflict handled when children disagree or get upset?
What does a typical morning look like, hour by hour?
How do educators communicate with parents day-to-day?
What training and credentials do the educators hold?
How does the program support children who need more, or less, structure?
What's the educator-to-child ratio?
How much time do children spend outdoors?
(Montessori-specific) Are the authentic Montessori materials in use and accessible?
Trust your gut: do the children look calm, engaged, and genuinely happy?

Which Is Right for Your Child?

Honestly? There isn't a universal answer, and anyone who tells you otherwise is selling something.

What the research does tell us is that a well-implemented Montessori program consistently shows meaningful advantages, particularly in literacy, executive function, and the kind of deep curiosity that serves children for a lifetime. The 2025 PNAS study was significant because it was a randomized controlled trial (the gold standard in research) and the benefits didn't fade the way early gains often do in traditional programs.

But the best early childhood environment is always the one where your child feels safe, seen, and genuinely engaged. Visit programs in person. Watch how educators speak to children. Watch how children speak to each other. Those five minutes of observation will tell you more than any blog post can.

If you'd like to see what Montessori looks like in practice, we welcome families from across the Beaches and the east end to come in for a visit, no pressure, no pitch. Just an open door.

Research References

Lillard, A.S. et al. (2025). A national randomized controlled trial of the impact of public Montessori preschool at the end of kindergarten. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2506130122
Randolph, J.J. et al. (2023). Montessori education's impact on academic and nonacademic outcomes: A systematic review. Campbell Systematic Reviews. PMC10406168
Lillard, A.S. et al. (2017). Montessori preschool elevates and equalizes child outcomes: A longitudinal study. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 1783. PMC5670361
Courtier, P. et al. (2021). Effects of Montessori education on the academic, cognitive, and social development of disadvantaged preschoolers. Child Development. PMC8518750

Montessori or Traditional Daycare? What the Research Says