ABSTRACT
Providing a quality education for English language learners (ELLs) has become critical as nearly 4.5 million children come to school from families where the home language is other than English (U.S. Census, 2000). Yet, Hispanic children continue to score well below their peers in reading throughout the elementary school years and often average about four years behind in their secondary school years as ELLs (Applebee, Langer, & Mullis, 1989; NCES, 2003). Many of these Hispanic students, due to their often impoverished status,
are in greatest need to have the support of high quality preschool and primary school environments (Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1998); however, it is known that Hispanic children attend preschool at a much smaller rate than their White counterparts (Our Nation, 1996). Access to high quality preschool programs such as the Montessori model, for Hispanic children is even less as a very small percentage of Montessori programs are funded under public education.
