The Montessori Difference featuring honored guest Dr. Angeline Lillard

The Prussian-derived education system we typically use has always been problematic, and its problems are ever more apparent; it inevitably drives towards testing and grading schemes that eviscerate meaning and diminish mental health. Over 100 years ago Dr. Maria Montessori began to develop an alternative way of educating, but until recently empirical evaluations of its outcomes were scarce. That situation has changed. In this talk, Dr. Lillard will present an informed synthesis of some of the evidence on Montessori outcomes, compiled in a new book from Oxford University Press, The Montessori Difference. 

Angeline S. Lillard is the Commonwealth Professor of Psychology at the University of Virginia where she directs the Early Development Laboratory and the Montessori Science Program; her research focuses on children's play and Montessori education. She is an elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Psychological Association, and the Association for Psychological Science, and Chief Editor of Frontiers in Developmental Psychology. She received her PhD in Psychology from Stanford University in 1991, and the American Psychological Association's Boyd McCandless Award for her early career contributions to Developmental Science. Her book, Montessori: The Science Behind the Genius (Oxford University Press) received the Cognitive Development Society Book Award, is translated into several languages, and is currently in its 3rd edition, and her new book, The Montessori Difference: Considering the Evidence will be out in 2026. She has been keynote speaker at dozens of Psychology and Montessori conferences worldwide. Her research has been funded by the Institutes of Education Sciences, the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and many private foundations.


The timeline for the day's event is as follows:

4:30 p.m. - Registration opens
5:00 p.m. - Lecture begins
6:15 p.m. - Community Reception