Abstract/Notes: Based on a database of over 500 resources, this paper explores the educational alternatives that exist today between the cracks of mainstream education and culture. It presents information about the growing numbers of schools and education centers that call themselves learner-centered, progressive, and/or holistic. Sources of data for this summary report also include over 3 years of informal interviews with and observations of people at alternative schools. The paper begins by examining terminology issues, discussing qualities for distinguishing educational alternatives, and describing eight types of schools (democratic and free schools, folk education, Quaker schools, homeschooling/unschooling/deschooling, Krishnamurti schools, Montessori schools, open schools, and Waldorf schools). It also presents frameworks for education (maps for understanding the territories of alternatives), and it discusses the three orientations of a competency based education: transaction (progressive), self-directed (learner-centered), and transformation (holistic). After looking at political issues around school choice which could impact the growth of the various philosophical alternatives, the paper concludes that in a society where issues of pluralism and diversity are valued as part of creating a more sustainable world and just democracy, the diversity of philosophical perspectives in education needs to be acknowledged. (Contains 41 references.) (SM)

Language: English

ISSN: 1094-3838, 2158-8414

Language: English

Published: New York: Putnam's sons, 1969

Abstract/Notes: This article examines the three most prominent movements of alternative education in Israel: Democratic education, Waldorf education, and the Montessori method of education. By comparing the educational approaches according to specific criteria, the goal is to provide the reader with as broad a picture as possible of their similarities and differences. The discussion focuses on the philosophical approach and general principles of each movement and does not aim to provide information or characteristics of specific educational institutions. One of the goals of the article is to bring before parents, educators, and policy makers knowledge of the different approaches so that they can understand and judge them with greater clarity.

Language: English

DOI: 10.46827/ejae.v6i1.3563

ISSN: 2501-5915

Abstract/Notes: Students who have attended Montessori pre-kindergarten and kindergarten appear to experience greater academic success than those who attend the general classroom. The purpose of this research was to examine what Montessori classrooms did differently than the general education classrooms and whether Montessori prepares students for greater academic success in elementary school. There is a vast amount of literature available on the impact of Montessori education on student achievement, but few comparison studies. The methodology for this research was causal comparative. Quantitative data was collected to ascertain the practices of Montessori classrooms to produce more academic success than that of the general education classroom. The purpose was to determine if students in a Montessori classroom will have higher academic success or if those in a traditional general education classroom setting will have higher achievement on the MAP reading and math assessment.

Language: English

Published: Central, South Carolina, 2023

Language: French

ISSN: 2492-3524

Language: English

Published: Hamilton, New Zealand: Australian Comparative and International Education Society, 1983

Language: English

Language: English

Language: English

Language: German

Published: Frankfurt am Main, Germany: P. Lang, 1994

ISBN: 978-3-631-47463-1

Series: Heidelberger Studien zur Erziehungswissenschaft (Frankfurt am Main, Germany) , 43