Question

Do education programs for preschool childrent that follow the Montessori method perform better than other programs? A study compared 5-year-old children in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, who had been enrolled in preschool programds from the age of 3.

A. Explain why comparing children whose parents chose a Montessori school with children of other parent would not show whether Montssori schools perform better than other programs. (In fact, all the children in the study applied to the Montessori school. The school district assigned students to Montessori or other preschools by a random lottery.)

B. In all, 54 children were assigned to the Montessori school and 112 to other schools at age 3. When the children were 5 parents of 30 of the Montessori children and 25 others could be located. Those parents who were located agreed to and subsequently participate in testing. This information reveals a possible source of bias in comparison to the outcomes. Explain why?

C. One of the many response variables was score on a test of ability to apply basic mathematics to solve problems. Here are summaries for the children who took this test:

Group: n x s

Montessori 30 19 3.11

Control 25 17 4.19

Is there evidence of a difference in the population mean scores? (The researchers used two-sided alternative hypotheses.)

Answer 1