Department of Psychology
Department of Psychology
Angeline Lillard

Angeline Lillard

Commonwealth Professor of Psychology
Email: lillard@virginia.edu
434 982-4750
Research Areas

Office Address: 140S Gilmer Hall
Lab Website: The Early Developmental Lab

Research

Social and cognitive development, Montessori education, children’s play

Book

Montessori: The Science behind the Genius

Publications

See lab website for most recent list of publications.

  • Lillard, A. S. (in press). John Flavell (1929-2025). American Psychologist.
  • Lillard, A. S. & Taggart, J. (in press). The JeffMonte method: Using Specifications Grading in a large lecture inspired by Thomas Jefferson and Maria Montessori. In K. Skogsberg, D. Buffalari, & E. Carpenter (Eds.), Alternative Grading. Society for Teaching Psychology.
  • Lillard, A. S., Loeb, D., Berg, J., Esuceta, M., Manship, K., Hauser, A., & Daggett, E. D. (2025). A National Randomized Controlled Trial of the Impact of Public Montessori Preschool on Children’s Kindergarten Outcomes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 122(43), 1-10. doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2506130122
  • Lillard, A. S., LeBoeuf, L*., Borgman, C., Manship, K., & Faria, A.M. (2025). When bigger looks better: CLASS results in public Montessori preschool classrooms. Early Childhood Research Quarterly. 70(1), 199-210. Doi: 10.1016/j.ecresq.2024.10.00
  • Lillard, A. S., Jiang, R. H., & Tong, X. (2025). Perfect Timing: Sensitive Periods for Montessori Education and Long-Term Wellbeing. Frontiers in Developmental Psychology, 3, 1546451. https://doi.org/doi.org/10.3389/fdpys.2025.1546451
  • Yucil, M., Stern, J. A., Eisen, S. L., Lillard, A. S., & Vaish, A. (2025). Heroes, Villains, and Everything in Between: Children’s Assessment of Morally Ambiguous Characters. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 256, 106251.  https://www.sciencedirect.com/user/error/ATP-2?pii=S0022096525000578
  • Basargekar, A*., & Lillard, A. S. (2023). Motivation and self-determination in Montessori education. In E. T. Ahlquist, M. Debs, M. McKenna, & A. K. Murray (Eds.), Bloomsbury Handbook of Montessori Education (pp. 261-270). Bloomsbury Publishing.
  • Doebel, S., & Lillard, A. S. (2023). How does play foster development? A new executive function perspective. Developmental Review, 67, 101064. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dr.2022.101064
  • Eisen, S. L*., Taggart, J*., & Lillard, A. S. (2023). Children prefer fantasy, but not anthropomorphism, in their storybooks. Journal of Cognition and Development, 24(1), 129-141. https://doi.org/10.1080/15248372.2022.2144317
  • LeBoeuf, L.*, Goldstein-Greenwood, J., & Lillard, A. S. (2023a). Multilevel modeling resolves ambiguities in analyses of discipline disproportionality: A demonstration comparing Title 1 Montessori and non-Montessori schools. Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, 1-26. https://doi.org/10.1080/19345747.2023.2186991
  • LeBoeuf, L.*, Goldstein-Greenwood, J., & Lillard, A. S. (2023b). Rates of chronic absenteeism in Montessori and non-Montessori Title 1 schools. Frontiers in Education.
  • Lillard, A. S. (2023a). Grand challenges in developmental psychology. Frontiers in Developmental Psychology, 1, 1069925. https://doi.org/10.3389/fdpys.2023.1069925
  • Lillard, A. S. (2023b). Why the time is ripe for an education revolution. Frontiers in Developmental Psychology, 1, 1177576. https://doi.org/10.3389/fdpys.2023.1177576
  • Lillard, A. S., Taggart, J.*, Yonas, D*., & Batson-Seale, M. N. (2023). An alternative to “no excuses”: Considering Montessori as culturally responsive pedagogy. Journal of Negro Education, 92 (3), 301-324. Selected for the special issue A Critical Examination of Social Justice in Education: Equity, Efficacy, and Inclusion Across PK-20 Populations. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/934318 (actually published in June, 2024).
  • Lillard, A. S., Tong, X., & Bray, P. M. (2023). Seeking Racial and Ethnic Parity in Preschool Outcomes: An Exploratory Study of Public Montessori vs. Business-as-Usual Schools. Journal of Montessori Research, 9(1), 16-36. https://doi.org/10.17161/jomr.v9i1.19540
  • Randolph, R. J., Bryson, A., Menon, L., Hernderson, D., Mauel, A. K., Michaels, S., Walls Resenstein, D. L., McPherson, W., O’Grady, R., & Lillard, A. S. (2023). Montessori education’s impact on academic and nonacademic outcomes: A systematic review. Campbell Systematic Reviews, 19(e1130), 1-82. https://doi.org/ https://doi.org/10.1002/cl2.1330
    • Top 10 most cited top 10% most read among Campbell Review articles of 2023
  • Snyder, A.*, LeBoeuf, L.*, & Lillard, A. S. (2023). “My Name Is Sally Brown, and I Hate School!”: A Retrospective Study of School Liking Among Conventional and Montessori School Alumni. Psychology in the Schools, 60(3), 541-565. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1002/pits.22777
    • Ranked in the top 10% of papers published in journal
  • Lillard, A. S. (2022). Ignored no more: The second century of Montessori Education. In J. de Brouwer & P. Sins (Eds.), Perspective on Montessori. Saxion Progressive Education University Press.
  • Lillard, A. S. (2022). Pretending at hand: How children perceive and process puppets. Cognitive Development, 63. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogdev.2022.101202
  • Skyview, A. M*., Beeler-Dudena, S*., Goldstein, A. M., Gancaycob, C. A., Lillard, A. S., Connelly, J. J., & Morris, J. P. (2022). Neuroepigenetic impact on mentalizing in childhood. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 54, 101080. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2022.101080
  • Lillard, A. (2022). Materials: What Belongs in a Montessori Primary Classroom? Results from a Survey of AMI and AMS Teacher Trainers. Montessori pedagogy and education. Translated to Greek from Montessori Life, 22(3), 18-32.
  • Lillard, A. S., Meyer, M. J., Vasc, D.*, & Fukuda, E.* (2021). An association between Montessori education in  childhood and adult wellbeing. Frontiers in Psychology, 12:721943. 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.721943
    • Written up in Forbes, Psychology Today, and many local publications (e.g., New Orleans’ The Big Easy magazine)
  • Sidera, F., Lillard, A. S., Amado, A., Caparros, B., Rostan, C., & Serrat, E. (2021). Pretending emotions in the early years: The role of language and symbolic play. Infancy. http://doi.org/10.1111/infa.12414
  • Snyder, A*., Tong, X., & Lillard, A. S. (2021). Standardized test performance in public Montessori schools. Journal of School Choice, 16(1), 105-135. https://doi.org/10.1080/15582159.2021.1958058
    • Reprinted in AMI Communications, 2022
  • Hopkins, E. H*., & Lillard, A. S. (2021). A Magic School Bus problem: How fantasy affects children’s learning from stories. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 210. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2021.105212
  • Golino, H., Christensen, A.*, Becker, I.*, & Lillard, A. S. (2021). Investigating the structure of the children’s concentration and empathy scale using exploratory graph analysis. Psychological Test Adaptation and Development. Doi: 10.1027/2698-1866/a000008
  • Basargekar, A*., & Lillard, A. S. (2021). Math Achievement Outcomes Associated with Montessori Education. Early Child Development and Care, 191(7-8), 1207-1218. https://doi.org/10.1080/03004430.2020.1860955
  • Lillard, A. S. (2021). Montessori as an Alternative Early Childhood Education. Early Child Development and Care, 191(7-8), 1196-1206.  https://doi.org/10.1080/03004430.2020.1832998
  • Taggart, J.*, Becker, I. *, Rauen, J. *, Al Kallas, H. *, & Lillard, A. S. (2020). What shall we do: Pretend or real? Preschoolers’ choices and parents’ perceptions. Journal of Cognition and  Development, 21(2), 261-281. 10.1080/15248372.2019.1709469
  • Taggart, J. *, Ellwood, M. C. *, Vasc, D. *, Chin, S. J.*, & Lillard, A. S. (2020). Parents’ roles and question-asking during pretend and real activities. Social Development. https://doi.org/10.1111/sode.12436
  • Vasc., D.*, & Lillard, A. S. (2020). Pretend and Sociodramatic Play. In S. Hupp & J. Jewell (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Child and Adolescent Development. New York: Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119171492
  • Eisen, S., & Lillard, A. S. (2020). Learning from Apps and Objects: The Human Touch. Mind, Brain, and Education, 14(1), 16-23.
  • Taggart, J.*, Eisen, S.*, & Lillard, A. S. (2019). The current landscape of US children’s television:  Prosocial, educational, fantastical, and violent content. Journal of Children and Media, 13, 276-294. https://doi.org/10.1080/17482798.2019.1605916
  • Lillard, A. S. (2019). Shunned and Admired: Montessori, Self-Determination, and a Case for Radical School Reform. Educational Psychology Review, 31, 939-65. doi: 10.1007/s10648-019-09483-3.
    • 2nd most downloaded article of 2019 among all Springer/Nature Education journals.
    • Featured in Nature’s Science of Learning Research Roundup.
  • Li, H.*, Eisen, S.* & Lillard, A. S. (2019). Anthropomorphic Media Exposure and Preschoolers' Anthropomorphic Thinking in China. Journal of Children and Media, 13(2), 149-162.  doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/17482798.2019.1570960
  • Lillard, A. S., & McHugh, V. (2019). Authentic Montessori: The Dottoressa’s View at the End of Her Life Part I: The Environment. Journal of Montessori Research, 5(1), 1-18. doi: https://doi.org/10.17161/jomr.v5i1.7716
  • Lillard, A. S., & McHugh, V. (2019). Authentic Montessori: The Dottoressa’s View at the End of Her Life Part II: The Teacher and the Child. Journal of Montessori Research, 5(1), 19-34. doi: https://doi.org/10.17161/jomr.v5i1.9753
  • Lillard, A. S., & Taggart, J.* (2019). Pretend play and fantasy: What if Montessori was right? Child Development Perspectives, 13(2), 85-90. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/cdep.12314
    • Selected for the Society for Research in Child Development’s special cross-191 journal virtual Covid-19 issue on The Science of Learning and Teaching at Home, April-July 2020.

Awards

  • University of Virginia Research Achievement Award, 2021
  • Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2020
  • Faculty Mentor for Psi Chi and APS Albert Bandura Graduate Research Award recipient (Sierra Eisen), 2016-17
  • Fellow, American Psychological Association, 2011, and Association for Psychological Science, 2006
  • Cognitive Development Society Book Award, 2006, for Montessori: The Science Behind the Genius
  • James McKeen Cattell Sabbatical Fellow, 2005-2006
  • American Psychological Association Boyd McCandless Young Scientist Award, 1999 and Outstanding Dissertation Award, 1992