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Articles for teachers on Multi-Age Classrooms, including tips and strategies that work.

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Mixed Age Grouping - What does the research say?

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Mixed Age Grouping - What does the research say?

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Parents can feel intimidated by the jargon used by teachers and school officials. Some terms may be new to those who have not spent much time in educational settings. As the school year draws to a close, some parents may find that in the coming school year, their child will be placed in a "mixed-age classroom." This article provides some basic information about mixed-age grouping and examines research on mixed-aged grouping. Finally, a list of questions is provided--questions parents can pose to prospective mixed-age group teachers or the school's principal--about how they will address parents' concerns.

Mixed-age grouping is a way of grouping children in which the children's age range is larger than a year--sometimes 2 years and sometimes more. It is intended to optimize the educative potential of the mixture itself. In a mixed-age classroom, children stay with the same teacher for several years. For example, in a classroom with children who are 5, 6, and 7 years old, the children who enter at the age of 5 remain with the teacher for 3 years.

In The Benefits of Mixed Age Grouping (1995), Katz provides a clear understanding of what "mixed-age grouping" means. She writes that "Although humans are not usually born in litters, we seem to insist that they be educated in them." In most families children are born one at a time, and if the parents opt to have more than one child, the children are spaced out over a few years. In the home, the older children help the younger ones with certain tasks. In this helping relationship, the younger and older children work together to help the younger learn new skills.

Take, for example, tying shoes. Older children who have mastered this skill will often help younger siblings tie their shoes. The older child has the opportunity to develop her patience, as well as the verbal skills necessary to communicate the steps to the younger child, while the younger learns how to tie her shoes. Often, an older child may read a story to a younger child, occasionally pointing out letters of the alphabet as they read. The older child has the opportunity to develop and solidify reading abilities, while the younger has an opportunity to develop listening and early reading skills.

These sorts of opportunities occur naturally in a home environment. However, as more parents join the work force, and children enter child care settings in which they are grouped according to age, there are fewer opportunities for children to learn from older or younger children in a natural way. Mixed-age classrooms allow this sort of interaction between older and younger children to occur.

The research supporting mixed-age classrooms indicates that academic achievement is the same as, or better than, the academic achievement of children in same-grade classrooms. Mixed-age classrooms do not negatively affect student achievement, and students in these classrooms have significantly more positive attitudes toward school, themselves, and others (Stone, 1998; Veenman, 1996). The Association for Childhood Education International (ACEI) lists the following benefits of multiage classrooms:

Children are able to spend several years with the same teacher. This allows the teacher to develop a deeper understanding of a child's strengths and needs, and is therefore in a better position to support the child's learning.

Children have several years to develop, and are able to see themselves as progressive, successful learners.

Children are viewed as unique individuals. The teacher focuses on teaching each child according to his or her own strengths, unlike in same-grade classrooms that often expect all children to be at the same place at the same time with regard to ability.

Children are not labeled according to their ability. For example, children in same-grade classrooms may be labeled "below grade level" or "low." These children may stop trying, while those labeled as "above grade level" or "high" may not feel challenged.

Children learn at their own rate, with no fear of retention. In same-grade classrooms, children are retained if they do not master content by the end of the year. In mixed-age classrooms, children have more time to master content, and this removes their fear of being retained in school.

Children develop a sense of family with their classmates. They become a "family of learners" who support and care for each other.

Older children have the opportunity to serve as mentors and to take leadership roles.

Children are more likely to cooperate than compete. The spirit of cooperation and caring makes it possible for children to help each other as individuals, not see each other as competitors.

Older children model more sophisticated approaches to problem solving, and younger children are able to accomplish tasks they could not do without the assistance of older children. This dynamic increases the older child's level of independence and competence.

Children are invited to take charge of their learning, by making choices at centers and with project work. This sense of "ownership" and self-direction is the foundation for lifelong learning.

Children have almost an extra month of teaching time, because the teacher does not have to spend the early weeks in the school year getting to know each child. Less review of prior instruction is needed before proceeding with new content.

However, some researchers suggest that it is important to examine the way in which mixed-age grouping is implemented in a particular school district. Mason and Burns (1996) have identified important differences in how mixed-age classrooms are implemented that relate to why the school district has chosen to implement a multiage program:

The school district has chosen to implement the program based on research. The mixed-age program is carefully designed, and teachers who teach in these classrooms do so by choice. The teacher is well prepared to work with this situation and has the curricular materials and training necessary to effectively teach in this classroom.

Or,

The mixed-age classroom is set up because of budgetary constraints. A principal is forced to combine different age children in a single classroom because the district cannot afford to hire additional teachers, or because of declining enrollment that often occurs in rural districts. In this situation the teacher has not chosen to be a mixed-age group teacher, and she may have negative attitudes as a result of not being prepared and not having the proper curricular materials to meet the needs of all the children in the class. As a result, the same benefits that occur in the first situation may not in fact be realized in the second.

Another factor that may affect the positive outcomes of mixed-age grouping, according to Mason and Burns, is that the principal, in an effort to reduce the burden on the teacher, will place children who are more cooperative, and more independent, in the mixed-age classroom. In some cases, the principal will assign the more-able teacher to the mixed-age classroom, believing that person needs more experience and skills in order to manage the range of children's abilities.

Mixed-age grouping has great potential, but only if its implementation is carefully and knowledgeably planned (Gaustad, 1995). Parents who have the option of choosing their child's teacher and classroom for the coming year may want ask these questions when deciding whether to request a mixed-age classroom: (1) Was the classroom established based on an educational decision or a budgetary one? (2) Did the teacher choose to work in that classroom? (3) Does the teacher feels she has the curricular materials necessary to work with all the children in the class? (4) How does the teacher ensure that younger children are not overwhelmed by older or more competent children? (5) How has the curriculum been modified to take advantage of the heterogeneity of the classroom? Asking the teacher or principal these questions can help parents make the best decision for their child.

Gaustad, Joan. (1995). Implementing the multiage classroom. ERIC Digest. Eugene, OR: ERIC Clearinghouse on Educational Management.

Katz, Lilian. (1995). The benefits of mixed-age groupin g. ERIC Digest. Champaign, IL: ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Education.

Mason, DeWayne A., & Burns, Robert B. (1996). "Simply no worse and simply no better" may simply be wrong: A critique of Veenman's conclusion about multigrade classes. Review of Educational Research, 66(3), 307-322.

Stone, Sandra. The multiage classroom: A guide for parents. ACEI Speaks.

Stone, Sandra. (1998). Defining the multiage classroom. Focus on Elementary, 10(3).

Veenman, Simon. (1996). Effects of multigrade and multi-age classes reconsidered. Review of Educational Research, 66(3), 323-340.

Published monthly by the ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Education, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Children's Research Center, 51 Gerty Drive, Champaign, IL 61820-7469. This publication was funded by the Office of Educational Research and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education, under contract no. DERR93002007. Opinions expressed in this magazine do not necessarily reflect the positions or policies of the Department of Education.

NPIN Coordinator and Parent News Editor: Anne Robertson
Production Editor: Emily S. Van Hyning

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Mixed-Age Grouping: What Does the Research Say, and How Can Parents Use This Information?

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Parents can feel intimidated by the jargon used by teachers and school officials. Some terms may be new to those who have not spent much time in educational settings. As the school year draws to a close, some parents may find that in the coming school year, their child will be placed in a "mixed-age classroom."

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A. As you consider sending your child to a multi-age classroom you may want to ask the important question:

Is the multi-age grouping in the school environment due to class size, student numbers or classroom space OR is the grouping a result of the school's educational philosophy?

By asking this forward question, you can tease through the intent of the administration and be able to make an informed decision.

As an educational consultant in the Denver area, I have seen many public and private schools use "multi-age classrooms" as a technique to merge two grades that are "too small in numbers" on their own. By combining the two grades, schools can save money on teacher's salaries and free up facility space.

On the other hand, there are educational philosophies such as Expeditionary Learning and British Primary that depend on multi-age classrooms as a way to implement their values and mission around "how children learn best."

Benefits of multi-age classrooms

Ideally, children stay with the same teacher for two or three years. When teachers know their students at this level, they can build deeper relationships and dive deeper into educational content.

Children learn from each other and older students "consolidate" their learning by teaching.

Multi-age classrooms give children the opportunity to experience "rites of passage" by being the youngest and then the oldest. They develop strong connects with others across grade levels.

Multi-age classrooms breed leadership skills and decrease bullying.

The developmental stage of the child is considered, as a result children have more time to blossom, without "performance" pressure.

Teachers in multi-aged classrooms are typically uniquely trained and often use a project approach and have strong abilities in differentiation.

If these benefits sounds appealing to you AND your administration and school have experience and a support structure in place for multi-age teaching then a multi-age grouping could be a perfect fit. Let me know what you decide.

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Ask an Expert: Are multi-age groupings good for kids?

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A. As you consider sending your child to a multi-age classroom you may want to ask the important question: Is the multi-age grouping in the school environment due to class size, student numbers or classroom space OR is the grouping a result of the school's educational philosophy?

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Dividing students by arbitrary birthdate ranges doesn't make sense, advocates say.

Stuart Miller

DEVENS, Massachusetts-It looks like a typical class in a suburban high school. The teacher, Barbara Curtin, discusses the differences between mean, mode, and median while her students at the Francis W. Parker Charter Essential School sit in clusters of three or four at tables around the room. A second teacher, Lorin Hill, is there to help. All fairly standard, but for one dramatic difference-the mix of students.

Curtin's class includes both ninth- and 10th-graders. Sometimes she even has a precocious eighth-grader or two and a couple of struggling 11th-graders. That's because Parker offers what may be the nation's most ambitious and comprehensive take on multiage education in middle and high school, breaking grades 7 to 12 into three divisions, with each division blending two grades together.

Multiage education is not a return to the one-room schoolhouse of yore, in which students of all ages learned different subjects in one space. Instead, students from (typically) two grades learn together in an environment that, advocates say, encourages cooperation and mentoring while allowing struggling students enough time to master material.

A long-time staple of Montessori schools, multiage classrooms spread to progressive elementary schools in the 1990s, although their use was always just one ingredient in a mix intended to provide more personalized instruction.

More From The Hechinger Report

But the movement lost traction in the 2000s, when the No Child Left Behind era imposed more grade-level standardized tests.

"The move to standards-based education with testing on grade level has made multiage classrooms really challenging," says Diane Friedlaender of the Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education at Stanford University.

Today, multiage classrooms remain an anomaly in America. Little research is being done on them in elementary schools-and the results are inconclusive-while virtually no research has ever investigated the effects of multiage classrooms in middle and high schools, likely because so few exist. (Though there are no hard numbers, educators acknowledge the total is miniscule.)

Yet multiage advocates say the traditional approach of dividing students into single grades based on an arbitrary birth-date range is illogical. Children spend much of their time outside school on sports teams or in arts programs that are more age-flexible than classrooms. Little League baseball teams, for instance, might group 5- to 8-year-olds in one division and 9- to 10-year-olds in another, allowing children to "play up" or "play down" based on their skills. Then the same kids go to school and are segregated with others of the exact same age, but not necessarily the same development, and they are all expected to reach certain benchmarks and move on at year's end, no matter what.

"It is hard to understand why schools have such a rigid adherence to that structure and don't think about child development at all," says Friedlaender.

Sandra Stone, a consultant and the author of the 2004 book Creating the Multiage Classroom, believes multiage education could be "more valuable" for older children "given the wider range of growth, both physical and emotional, as they are finding out who they are."

Adds Friedlaender: "People in charge think more about the developmental needs of children at the elementary level so they make space for multiage classrooms there, but with older children they think more about academics."

For some, the traditional way is more convenient, says Dan Condon, the associate director of professional development at the Eagle Rock School & Professional Development Center in Colorado. "High school is set up to serve the adults and staff members' schedules," says Condon, whose school offers multiage education for students ages 15 to 21 who are not on track to graduate. "It's not set up to help young people succeed."

Multiage education, say its proponents, puts learners at the center, socially and academically. On the social side, younger children look for guidance to older students who know the ropes, while the older students in the classroom organically learn about mentoring, leadership, and collaboration.

Paula Dallacqua, who is in her first year of teaching a combined ninth- and 10th-grade class at Fannie Lou Hamer Freedom High School in the Bronx, says she tried to create specific moments for mentoring but soon found she was forcing the issue.

"Those relationships form naturally," explains Dallacqua, "and the students don't even always identify it as 'I am mentoring now.'"

Fannie Lou Hamer is a small public high school that utilizes several progressive educational philosophies; the school's innovations have led to it being named a "Gold" School of Opportunity by the National Education Policy Center in 2015 and a "model school" by the Center for Reform of School Systems in 2016. While it merges the ninth- and 10th-grades, it returns to traditional grade structure for students' final two years, by which point struggling students will have hopefully had time to catch up.

Frank Williams, 15, says that when he entered the school last year he was skeptical of the concept but found his elders provided critical guidance. "Building a relationship with older students helps you know what to expect, and they give an example of how to stay on track," Frank says. "If there were any situations, I had 10th-graders right there to show me how to maneuver through them. My maturity level skyrocketed."

Now Frank is in 10th grade and he passes on his wisdom to the ninth-graders. "He helps me with my math," his classmate Kaleb Stobbs says.

Although the ninth- and 10th-graders are mixed together, teachers try to ensure that students in the second year are still challenged. At Parker, the math teacher Dawn Crane says a student in the first year of a multiage class might be asked to solve a problem using two different types of functions while a second-year student would be expected to use three different types.

Meanwhile, for those who lag behind, multiage education provides a crucial practical and psychological boost by blending two grades, says Nathan Larsen, the assistant principal at Fannie Lou Hamer.

"If ninth grade ends and you are only three-quarters of the way toward mastering the material in a traditional school you will be left back, but here you stay with your class and have time in the second year to catch up," he says.

Extra time is helpful in any school, but it's crucial at Fannie Lou Hamer because here, in one of the nation's poorest congressional districts, 50 percent of the children live in poverty and students "frequently come in with gaps in their education-they are overage and undereducated and they have missed out on stuff" says Larsen. (More than half the students also grow up in households in which English is not the main language.)

Friedlaender adds that poor and underserved children frequently struggle with the perseverance required to catch up. "They've had so much trauma and heartache in their lives and it becomes survival instinct, so a psychological wall goes up when things don't come easily," she explains. "Just saying that you have the ability to master the material and have the extra time can help them develop the capacity to persist."

Parker Principal Todd Sumner says that many of his students also have learning issues-one-third have diagnosed learning differences and another 10 to 15 percent have disabilities. Despite that, 95 percent of Parker graduates have gone on to college and 96 percent of those students attend four-year colleges, with more than 85 percent attaining their degree within five years, the school says.

Sumner says that approximately three-fourths of his students spend two years in each division but some need more time and return to their division for an extra semester or even an entire extra year. Others may breeze through a division in a year and a half.

For multiage classrooms to work, schools need to set their curriculums and teaching schedules differently. Curtin and Hill will teach one curriculum to this year's crop of ninth- and 10th-graders. Next year they will teach a different curriculum to a new set of ninth-graders merging with the rising 10th-graders they had the previous year. The following year they'll return to the first curriculum, so that each group gets both years' worth of material. Students who return for extra time have thus seen the material before and ideally have a better chance to grasp the concepts the second time around. (Larsen adds that for poor children, whose schooling is often plagued by change, either in their home lives or by teacher turnover, this looping and being around older kids offers a vital stabilizing effect.)

Sumner allows that the age-segregated world does intrude in the form of standardized tests-his students typically take the state test in eighth and 10th grade and the SAT or ACT in 11th grade, no matter where they are within the school's three divisions.

While he believes that multiage education is beneficial to all students, Sumner says it is most helpful for those who are struggling with a certain subject.

He adds: "The world is already taking care of the kid who is accelerated, but the kid who is a semester behind is especially well-served here" once they buy into the idea that everyone learns at a different pace. "You can see that they stand up straighter after a while and say, 'I'm not a dumb kid. It may take me a little more time, but I'm going to get there.' "

Andrew Welton, 17, is a student at Parker. He explains matter-of-factly that he is a junior but is still taking Division II classes with the ninth- and 10th-graders because "I was a bit of a train wreck coming into the school."

"I wanted to go ahead with my friends-they're my buds-and it wasn't the best feeling in the world, but by taking the extra time, I think I really managed to figure out some of the issues I was going through," he says.

There is challenging work for the teachers as well, since they must buy into the concept of teaching non-sequentially. Sumner says this fits with his school's commitment to inquiry-based education, which teaches students certain key skills instead of facts that they can "regurgitate" on command.

"We're leaving a lot of things out-we acknowledge that," he says, explaining that their approach prioritizes depth over breadth. Students do not cover American history from the beginning to the present day, he says, but instead "learn to think like a historian and to understand the social, economic, and political drivers of any situation, so they know what the right questions are to ask about any period in history."

Crane, the math teacher at Parker, says that math teachers in traditional schools are often uncomfortable with the notion of teaching algebra and geometry in a nonlinear fashion, alternating units in both subjects over the course of each year's curriculum. They see them as separate subjects, but, Crane says, "The way we're doing it, there is a connection from algebra to geometry and we build on that with each unit."

Multiage classrooms might be an easier sell for teachers, administrators, and elected officials around the country if there was definitive research supporting the claims of its advocates. In fact, most studies of multiage classrooms date to the 1990s. At that time, a widely cited overview concluded that "Studies in which the cognitive or achievement effects of multi-age and single-age classes were compared indicated no differences between these two types of grouping."

Stone, the author and consultant, claims the reason there have been so few studies over the last two decades is that most research has been centered around testing and curriculum. Friedlaender adds that the old research may have been skewed by small, especially rural, elementary schools that resort to multiage classrooms for budgetary, not philosophical, reasons-it is cheaper to have one teacher for two grades-and do not provide the extensive teacher training necessary. And, of course, none of the studies involved adolescents.

Ultimately, although supporters of multiage education remain passionate about its potential benefits, they tend to agree that, as Friedlaender says, "it is not a cure-all."

"Multiage education is a catalyst or an additive for what we are trying to do here, but it is part of a larger ecosystem," explains Larsen.

Both Larsen and Sumner see multiage as one ingredient among many others found in progressive schools: a small-enough student load to allow teachers to personalize instruction; a structure that allows teachers to really get to know each student; and project- and inquiry-based learning that is driven by questions and discussion, not textbooks and lectures. Schools that buy into these approaches can also flourish without multiage education, but advocates say it enhances the mission.

"We know every school is different and every faculty is different," Sumner says, "and we would be slow to say, 'Just do it like we do it.' We would say, 'Here are the processes we use to arrive at what works for us, you might want to think about asking these questions.'"
This post appears courtesy of The Hechinger Report.

We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to letters@theatlantic.com.

Stuart Miller is a writer based in New York. His work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, and The Guardian.

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Can Multiage Classrooms Improve Learning Outcomes?

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Dividing students by arbitrary birthdate ranges doesn't make sense, advocates say. DEVENS, Massachusetts-It looks like a typical class in a suburban high school. The teacher, Barbara Curtin, discusses the differences between mean, mode, and median while her students at the Francis W. Parker Charter Essential School sit in clusters of three or four at tables around the room.

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September 2005 | Volume 63 | Number 1
The Whole Child Pages 54-58

Paula Carter

Ninety years ago, U.S. students struggled with many of the same issues that students encounter today. Immigrants worked to assimilate into society, speaking one language at home and another at school. Children had to deal with such perennial problems as domestic violence, alcoholism, and neglect. They were fortunate if their school and the surrounding community became an extended family of sorts, a place where they could temporarily lay down their burdens as they learned and practiced new skills that could lead them to a better life. Students today can benefit from the same kind of nurturing environment.

A Good Place to Learn

My team-teaching partner Theresa Crowley and I work at Rita Cannan Elementary School in Reno, Nevada. Hotels, casinos, convention centers, concerts, and special events draw approximately 5 million visitors each year to our community. Many non-English-speaking parents find work in the service industry's unskilled, low-paid jobs. Seventy percent of our students at Rita Cannan speak a language other than English in the home. Even the 30 percent who are native speakers of English often enter school with depressed vocabularies.

Many of our families live in poverty, with 88 percent of our students qualifying for lunch subsidies. The majority of our students do double duty: They reach for high levels of success and, at the same time, work to master the English language. We strive to provide a humane classroom environment in which they can accomplish these goals.

To combat our school's 49 percent transiency rate, we request that parents keep their children with us for three years. My team-teaching partner speaks fluent Spanish, which is a great help as we communicate our intentions to parents. Instead of requiring a signed formal agreement, we work to earn the parents' trust. In the schools in which we teach, we generally have the majority of our students for the full three years.

A Family, Just Like Us

I'm always surprised when people ask, "Why teach 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade in one classroom?"

"I can't think of a good reason not to," I reply.

Multi-age grouping builds strong relationships among teachers, students, and families. We also see it as an approach that validates the importance of a developmentally appropriate curriculum (Miller, 1994). The University of Nevada-Reno, which trains many of our local teachers, has a model multi-age classroom on campus that houses grades 1, 2, and 3. Spending time in that classroom and watching students and teachers interact sold me on the concept 20 years ago.

Older students bring new students into the fold by showing them how the classroom works. We hear them coaching the younger children: "Try it again! Don't forget to use your strategies. Get your mouth ready to say the word." We also hear them comforting students: "That's OK. You'll do better next time. An 80 percent isn't a bad grade."

Students tell us in many ways just how important our learning family is. While teaching a math lesson to the older students one day, we huddled around the overhead projector. "This is a math family," I said as I pointed to a math triangle. "The numbers are all related. You know, like moms, dads, aunts, uncles, and cousins."

Standing on a chair with his arm propped on my shoulder, Juan exclaimed, "Just like us!"

Most multi-age teachers will tell you that teaming with another teacher helps (Miller, 1994). Theresa and I joined forces three years ago to teach our multi-age classes in the same room. Since then, our hallway discussions have evolved into much deeper levels of collaboration. We used to focus more on planning. Now we see ourselves as observers of children, looking at what has transpired in the classroom and what needs to occur to support each student every day.

Team teaching has brought support, humor, problem-solving capabilities, and reflection into our teaching lives. We have benefited from the resulting growth and professional stimulation as much as our students have.

A Curriculum for the Whole Child

With our 32 students, my partner and I create a safe place where students can learn to think critically, take risks, and share joys and concerns. We let students know what we expect of them at school. Then the real, sustainable learning begins to unfold.

The Joy of Art

A boy new to the United States happened to enter our classroom the same day that we were scheduled to sing for a community outreach center. We worried that we might have traumatized him by putting him on stage to sing with the rest of the class. The next morning, our minds were put at ease when he asked Theresa in Spanish, "When are we going on the bus to sing?"

Students enthusiastically embrace learning when we sing, create pieces of art, dance, celebrate, laugh, and wonder aloud with them. Reaching them on an emotional level helps fuel the learning process (Jensen, 1998). Several times a week, we have students read a selection of their choice for 20 to 30 minutes. Many are drawn to the poetry and song charts that hang from racks in one corner of the room. Older students teach younger students the lyrics to a favorite song or lines from a favorite poem. By the time we formally teach the songs and poems, many of the younger students are already familiar with them.

Nonfiction and the Wonder of Snowflakes

Many primary students, when given the choice, prefer informational books to narrative texts (Kletzein & Szabo, 1998). Our students are fascinated with books about real people, animals, and nature. The rich picture support characteristic of many nonfiction books has the added advantage of helping English language learners relate English words to objects and concepts familiar to them in their native languages (Parkes, 2003).

Opening up the classroom to the great outdoors is a valuable way of building bridges of understanding between books and real-life experiences. In January, students pored over nonfiction books on weather, temperature, and the different states of matter, focusing on how water appeared as a liquid, solid, and gas. After looking at magnified photographs of snowflakes, students measured 60-degree angles and folded paper accordingly to make the six-point cutouts. A student suddenly looked up from her reading and exclaimed, "Holy cow! It's snowing!" Before I could blink an eye, the older students had helped the younger ones don their coats, hats, and gloves. With magnifying glasses in hand, we all marched outside to get a close-up view of the snowflakes that clung to the children's hair.

Younger students come to understand that our classroom culture highly values thinking and discovery. For example, 6-year-old Mirella told us, "I went to California to visit my cousins. At night, I couldn't sleep so I looked at the moon and 'thinked' about it." She was mirroring the love of learning and wonder that our older students model for the younger ones.

Sharing Stories Through Writing

Our students are insistent about sharing pieces of writing that tell of hurts, scrapes, domestic violence, and visits with social workers and police. They also press to read aloud their pieces about weddings, trips to roller-skating rinks, and visits with grandparents. Each time a student shares a personal narrative, we see nods of understanding and hear responses from others in the class who make personal connections to what the student is reading.

When Anne, a 3rd grader, asks Reyna, a 1st grader, "What did your party dress look like?", we see Reyna voluntarily revise her story to include the information. We hear older students say to the younger ones, "I want more detail. I want to know more about the character." This affirms for us that there are certainly more than two teachers in the classroom.

One of the most motivating triggers of all is when a 3rd grader makes the others laugh through a comical piece that he or she has written. The younger students can't wait to do the same.

We have found that when we give students time to write about personal experiences, both happy and sad, they are more apt to give their all to an assigned topic. We let them know that what they have to say and write matters. Because they hold their audience in high regard, they strive to produce high-quality work.

Math and Problem Solving

Good math instruction cultivates good thinkers. At the end of our students' three years with us, we want our 3rd graders to be able to think analytically and attack problems with perseverance and confidence.

Through math instruction, teachers can teach students how to analyze, evaluate, predict, infer, and create mental images in a concrete manner. These skills prove useful in reading and writing as well. Just as students sort shapes-such as triangles, squares, and circles-they also sort words as they learn to read according to concept, beginning letter, or vowel sounds. In their writing, they must sort and organize their thoughts so that their paragraphs support a main idea.

Math time is usually the noisiest part of our day. Our students are actively learning through manipulatives, games, and "out-loud" problem solving in addition to paper-and-pencil exercises. Theresa works predominately with 1st and 2nd graders, building strong math foundations. I work with 2nd graders who show a high aptitude for math along with my 3rd grade group. Some students alternate back and forth between working with the two of us, depending on their needs. Because 3rd grade is an important testing year for No Child Left Behind (NCLB), my group places heavier emphasis on test preparation.

We sometimes bring all the students together to play games or work on a common concept, such as fractions.

"If I cut a pizza into four parts, and I give you one part and me three, is that equal?" an older student asks teasingly as he cuts a circle into four equal parts.

"No way! I should get two, and you should get two," a younger student exclaims. The enthusiasm associated with sharing new knowledge and insights is contagious.

How We Manage

Working with a group of students whose ages span three years is not so different from working with a group of same-age students. Children who share the same chronological age are not always developmentally in the same place. A task that is frustrating for one student might not be challenging enough for another.

How do we manage? During the day, we group students differently for different purposes. Because we want our students to feel like part of a larger family, we begin and end the day with the whole group together. During those times, we take attendance and discuss a variety of topics, such as important upcoming events, problems, successes, and homework. One of us leads the discussion while the other works with individual students, communicates with parents, or takes care of a problem. We also gather the whole group together for such activities as teacher read-alouds, thematic study, art lessons, and singing.

We put our students into heterogeneous, cooperative groups when we want younger or less able students to learn from more capable students, who can solidify their own learning through such teaching. These groupings provide us with opportunities to observe strengths and weaknesses that are not always readily apparent. The weakest reader might be the best artist or communicator in the group. Watching these groups in action gives us a fuller picture of each student.

When our purpose is to increase or expand specific skills in reading, spelling, or math, we work with small, homogeneous groups. Students who are not participating in these groups work independently on various assignments, asking other students for help if they require it. This builds interdependence and strengthens community spirit.

Our teaching duties change throughout the day depending on the kind of groupings in place. We are facilitators and observers when our students work in heterogeneous, cooperative groups. We deliver intense, direct instruction in small-group settings. Whole-group activities tend to be teacher-led, shared experiences. This whole-group, small-group, cooperative-group choreography provides our students with a variety of ways to learn and practice new skills.

Does It Work?

We have found that when we let students navigate what Vygotsky (1978) called the zone of proximal development-somewhere between what they know and what they can know-we help them develop their brains.

Our students must act like writers, readers, and mathematicians before they ever assume mastery. This takes time. We let our 1st graders play with the language associated with thinking and analyzing text and numbers before we require mastery. We strive to reach certain benchmarks at each grade level, but we know that children can develop in uneven spurts and can reach plateaus where growth is not obvious for a time. The luxury of having three years is important to us.

We have hundreds of stories that support our belief that students benefit academically, emotionally, and socially from being in our multi-age classroom. However, we also understand that these success stories don't hold water in a data-driven system.

Last summer, we moved to Rita Cannan Elementary School to team teach in a multi-age classroom of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders. The new school was less than a mile away from the one in which we both had been teaching for seven years. We had been using the Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA) benchmark books to measure reading progress (Beaver, 1997). Books are divided into emergent, early, transitional, and fluent levels. Because our new school shared the same demographics as the other school, we had the rare opportunity to compare the DRA levels of those students who had been with us for two years before entering 3rd grade with those who entered as brand-new 3rd graders. Students who had spent the two previous years with us scored in the fluent range on average, whereas our new group of entering 3rd graders scored within the transitional range.

We are confident that our current 1st graders will successfully grow their skills to the level that many of the 3rd graders attained in the past at our former school. This year, some of our 1st graders' developmental reading assessment scores already surpassed the scores of many of the 3rd graders who were new to our class.

A Family of Learners

We see promise in the way that 1st grader Mirella cradles a notebook in her arms and marches around the classroom like a busy executive. We see it when Reyna and Neida sneak a peak at the Junie B. Jones book that Ms. Crowley has been reading aloud and then beg to take a copy home to read together. We see it when 1st grader Daniel writes in his response journal that he has "evidns" that the bear in the book Corduroy is sad, and then tells us why he knows. We see it when a feverish student shows up with his mother in tow, who exclaims, "I couldn't get him to stay home!"

Can we give our students "Dear Old School Days" in today's world? Theresa and I believe that the multi-age classroom does just that. It helps build relationships among students, teachers, and families. For us, it has become a supportive extended family in which our students flourish.

References

Beaver, J. (1997). Developmental reading assessment (DRA). Lebanon, IN: Pearson Learning Group/Scott Foresman-Addison Wesley.

Hart, B., & Risley, T. R. (1995). Meaningful differences. Baltimore: Paul Brookes Publishing.

Jensen, E. (1998). Teaching with the brain in mind. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Kletzein, S. B., & Szabo, R. J. (1998). Informational text or narrative test? Children's preferences revisited. Paper presented at the National Reading Conference, Austin, Texas.

Miller, B. A. (1994). Children at the center. Portland, OR: Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory.

Muse, I., Smith, R., & Barker, B. (1987). The one-teacher school in the 1980s. Las Cruces, NM: ERIC Clearinghouse on Rural Education and Small Schools. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 287 646)

Parkes, B. (2003). The power of informational texts in developing readers and writers. In L. Hoyt, M. Mooney, & B. Parkes (Eds.), Exploring informational texts: From theory to practice (pp. 18-25). Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Vygotsky, L. (1978). Mind and society: The development of higher mental processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Paula Carter team teaches at Rita Cannan Elementary School in Reno, Nevada; 775-353-5750; pcarter@washoe.k12.nv.us.

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September 2005 | Volume 63 | Number 1 The Whole Child Pages 54-58 Paula Carter Ninety years ago, U.S. students struggled with many of the same issues that students encounter today. Immigrants worked to assimilate into society, speaking one language at home and another at school.

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As the parent of three children who came through multi-aged elementary school classrooms and a teacher who has taught in both types of settings, here is my opinion.

Like most programs, the quality of multi-age programs depends strongly on the teacher and his or her specific strengths and weaknesses. A teacher who is experienced, excited, and committed will be likely to run a sound multi-aged program. One who is inexperienced, unconvinced of the program's usefulness, or unhappy in his or her situation will not.

As for the idea itself, there are advantages and disadvantages even with a well-run program. A student's success in multi-age is highly dependent on learning style. Children who are relatively independent learners, the self-starters, and those who are able to focus easily are likely to do very well in a multi-age setting. Those who need more adult direction, who have difficulty focusing, or who tend to have difficulty completing independent assignments may have more difficulty in this setting.

The multi-age classroom lends itself to skill grouping, as opposed to traditional ability grouping. This means that instead of having "high" and "low" reading or math groups, students who need to work on a given skill are grouped together while the skill is taught, and then regrouped when new skills are tackled. This allows high achieving younger students to work on more challenging material and struggling students to review difficult concepts without much stigma.

Many students respond well to the immersion method of teaching; that is, they learn from everything going on around them. Much like in the old-fashioned one room schoolhouse, the younger students pick up information and material from the older students' lessons.

Young or distractible students may find themselves overwhelmed with the noise and activity level in a multi-aged classroom. Many teachers teach to small groups of students instead of the whole group, and this means that there may be multiple activities going on at the same time. For example, a teacher may work with a small group of students to introduce a new concept while another group completes an assigned activity, another group researches for a project, and still another group engages in interviewing the custodian. There is generally alot going on at once in a multi-aged classroom. It's usually pretty orderly and productive, but it can be noisier than a traditional classroom.

Multi-aged classrooms tend to offer a wider variety of assignments to address multiple learning styles. A student may choose to write a report, make a diorama, create a mobile, design a poster, or develop a Powerpoint presentation to respond to a book, for example.

Older students may end up mentoring to younger students more often than a parent might prefer. The teachers usually try to create a learning community, where each member takes some responsibilty for helping other members understand difficult ideas. If your student is one of the older ones or an able student, this may be out of proportion.

On the whole, my girls were very pleased with their multi-age experiences. I liked most aspects of the classes, and felt they had a nice mix of challenge and review throughout their elementary years. They have all been extraordinarily successful in middle and high school, and the oldest is now doing very well in college.

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Pros and Cons of Multi Age Classes in Elementary Schools

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As the parent of three children who came through multi-aged elementary school classrooms and a teacher who has taught in both types of settings, here is my opinion. Like most programs, the quality of multi-age programs depends strongly on the teacher and his or her specific strengths and weaknesses.

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Student Centered Vs. Teacher Centered Classrooms

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Student Centered Vs. Teacher Centered Classrooms

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What's the difference between teacher-centered and student-centered classrooms?

In a traditional, teacher-centered classroom, teachers ask questions and students answer. Teachers choose what students will be working on and when and deliver direct instruction, often to the whole class at once. Conversely, in a student-centered, personalized classroom the teacher works with students and has the resources and supports that they need to take risks and follow their students' lead.

In a literacy lesson, for example, a teacher may work with a small group of students whose assessments show they need support in the same skill area, while other students work through learning stations with tasks designed to strengthen their learning. Students benefit from individually-paced, targeted learning tasks that start from where the student is, formatively assess existing skills and knowledge and address the student's needs and interests.

"If you ask [my students] what they are working on in literacy they can say, 'I'm doing syllables right now,' or 'I don't need to do my letters anymore because I know them already,'" said Marie Roy, a kindergarten teacher at Henry L. Cottrell Elementary School in RSU 2 in Monmouth, Maine. "They know exactly what to expect, and where they need to be, and where they need to get their materials from so they are able to move through their targets at a pretty independent pace."

What does classroom management look like in a personalized, competency-based environment?

The idea of students choosing how they learn, how they show you what they've learned, working independently or grouping and regrouping throughout the day, might sound messy to teachers. But the student who feels trusted and has ownership over their learning is a more focused and productive student. Learners also have ample opportunities to practice those critical social and emotional skills that will serve them well in the future when they can recognize their own role in enriching the learning environment. Teachers are still responsible for the class, but when students build a community together, deciding on classroom rules and similar procedures, they hold themselves and each other accountable.

In an elementary classroom, students may decide as a class on an appropriate way to handle classroom materials such as markers or scissors, whereas older learners may decide on how long they have to revise an assignment. These rules still exist - but they are decided upon and enforced by the community, building student agency and ownership.

"I really wanted to be in charge of my classroom," said Hillary Weiser, a kindergarten teacher at Navin Elementary School in the Marysville Exempted Village School District in Marysville, Ohio. "But I've learned to let the kids take charge of their own learning. I have no discipline issues this year, and I don't think it's anything I've done. This classroom is theirs. They take ownership of what happens here."

Does personalized learning mean teachers create personalized lesson plans for every student?

Personalizing learning doesn't mean writing 30 different lesson plans for 30 students, but rather cultivating in students an understanding of themselves as learners and turning over some of the work to the students themselves. Transparency about learning expectations is also key in a personalized, competency-based classroom - if students are aware of their learning targets and what they need to do to demonstrate mastery, learning isn't a mystery.

In a science class, for example, a teacher may share out at the beginning of the unit the learning targets that each student will need to meet, and work with each student to design the assessment that allows them to demonstrate mastery - whether that's writing a paper, delivering a presentation, taking a test or something else.

How do teachers support each student's individual needs?

To truly personalize learning, teachers must have the support and freedom they need to understand and support each child holistically. Whether it's a unique family situation, a different culture than their own, poverty or trauma, teachers must have the flexibility to meet their students' needs in creative and appropriate ways.

Many teachers use data notebooks with students as a way of involving the kids in goal setting and progress monitoring. The notebooks can also include learner profiles, where students set goals and reflect on the ways in which they learn best. "Do I learn my math facts when I am using flashcards or working with a partner?" "What do I need to do my best on this task?" Making the most of the data notebooks can also support a classroom culture that encourages growth mindset: approaching new tasks and skills as an opportunity to learn and grow rather than assuming skills are predetermined.

When personalizing learning, there is a necessary cultural and systemic shift throughout a learning community that brings inequitable practices to light and has the potential to empower teachers to take action and alleviate those inequities. This may require tough, but necessary, conversations about how to serve each child well.

"We offered afterschool sessions for those learners who needed additional help, and were naturally frustrated when the students knew we needed the support didn't show up," said Abbie Forbus, director of teaching and learning with KnowledgeWorks and formerly director of culture at Lindsay Unified School District in Lindsay, California. "But when we asked students, we were surprised to learn that because so many of their parents were migrant workers who had to go and work in the fields after school, these students needed to get home to care for siblings. Afterschool sessions were never going to work for them, so we needed to find a way to work extra time into the school day. If we'd stopped and asked our learners first what they needed, we'd have been able to work together to find the best solution from the start."

How will assessments work? How will teachers determine if a student has demonstrated mastery?

While end-of-year summative assessments are still a reality for schools, teachers in a personalized learning environment must be comfortable with frequent, embedded student assessments that are closely aligned to instruction so that results can quickly translate into supports for students. These embedded, formative assessments also naturalize the process of assessing progress. Rather than seeming punitive, assessments become a regular touchpoint for both teachers and students to get a pulse on what they know and what they don't know yet. After an assessment, students can also chart their own growth and set their own learning goal, determining what they will do to reach their goal and what they need their teacher to do. They own their learning.

"I get to focus on what kids really know, and what they don't know, and what I can do to get them there," said Brooke Young, a math teacher at Marysville Early College High School in the Marysville Exempted School District in Marysville, Ohio. She described a recent project her students undertook to demonstrate their understanding of quadratic functions, where rather than just take a test, her students chose to pursue a video project. Young recognized her students' passion for video production and IT, and though she didn't have the expertise herself, she provided the structure necessary for her students to plug their learning into something that was meaningful for them and still gave the opportunity to show what they'd learned. "I told them, 'I'm going to take a risk with you.' We dove in together," Young said.

How does personalized learning change the nature of professional development?

Rethinking annual professional development to explicitly support a teacher's confidence and the development of strategies for personalized learning is critical. Most educators weren't trained in personalized learning strategies but are excited at the prospect of having more freedom to meet their students where they are. Growth mindset and comfort with failure as a part of the learning process is something that teachers must cultivate in their interactions with students, and it's made possible by feeling that same support from district leaders and administrators. Teachers need to feel that they are trusted and that if they try something new and it doesn't work out, they can revisit and adjust.

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The Role of the Teacher in a Personalized, Competency-Based Classroom

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Teachers are more critical than ever in a personalized learning environment. Get answers to common questions about the role of the teacher in a personalized, competency based classroom.

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The idea behind having a variety of ages, or grades, in one classroom, should not be a foreign concept. On any given day, most adults interact with individuals from an assortment of populations: family members, co-workers, neighbors, service personnel, teammates, etc... Rarely outside of schools do you see individuals grouped based on a specific age.

Just think how absurd it would be to live in our world and maintain your company based on your age alone: "Parenting will begin in the 29 th year," "Jobs available for 35-year-olds," "Books available for purchase for 43-year-olds," "Menu options for those in their 51 st year of life." It just sounds completely asinine to think for one moment that what we should be doing should be determined by how long we've been on Earth. This just begs the question, why are students grouped like this in traditional schooling? What if we placed an emphasis on attaining skills and progress based on interests, ability, and natural curiosity instead of age?

Are multi-grade classrooms the answer?

Multi-grade classrooms have the potential to revolutionize education as we know it from our modern times and put the emphasis back on student progress. True progress, as defined by natural acceleration from one level of material to another, largely based on student interest and curiosity, and away from scores within a "Proficient" or "Not Yet Proficient" range, would begin to put the value and excitement back into school.

Many new standardized tests are designed, primarily, for profit from someone who has never stepped foot inside of a classroom as a teacher. Don't get me wrong, we all have some knowledge of what it's like to be in school, as we were all once a student. That fact, however, does not make anyone who has even been a student an expert in education.

Learning is innate

Learning is happening all around us. Human curiosity is one of the foundational elements of learning, something that all humans instinctively do from their early first days. Somehow, traditional schooling and modern societal norms have told us that learning, or at least the "most important learning" only happens in a vacuum: in a classroom, with a tutor, following a prescribed extra-curricular schedule.

Authors Ruiting Song, Terry E. Spradlin, and Jonathan A. Plucker, educational experts at the Center for Evaluation & Education Policy, have outlined the benefits and drawbacks of multi-grade classrooms in their 2009 report, The Advantages and Disadvantages of Multiage Classrooms in the Era of NCLB Accountability. For the purposes of this article, the benefits will be highlighted since we can already imagine the difficulties with scheduling, and perhaps even preparing for a major overhaul of multi-age classrooms.

1."Diverse yet balanced groupings of students of mixed ages with different abilities, including special needs and gifted students,... enhance social and natural settings in multi-grade classrooms can help raise students' social and emotional skills. Including students of different ages in one classroom creates a caring environment, as it encourages older students to serve as role models or mentors to help their younger peers" (Song, Spradlin, & Plucker, 2009).

When students of various ages are placed together, they naturally form a sort of "pecking order" and learn who among them are the helpers, the doers, and the ones to seek out for certain tasks. This type of setting also better demonstrates what individuals are likely to encounter in the adult world. By learning about the diversity that exists among each other at a young age better prepares us to develop tolerance and acceptance.

2. When children of various ages are grouped together, the language that an individual in a teacher's role will vary based on the children's physical and emotional needs.(Song, Spradlin, & Plucker, 2009)And since we all know children are often likened to soaking up new knowledge like sponges, this varying language helps to stimulate new vocabulary, understanding, and meaning.

3. "Higher cognitive development level at a faster rate than those in classrooms of same-age peers. " (Song, Spradlin, & Plucker, 2009). Problem-solving, higher-level thinking, and learning from peers, are all skills that naturally develop at an earlier point in multi-grade classrooms simply because of the immersion experienced by the children together.

4. " Increased family relationships" (Song, Spradlin, & Plucker, 2009).One teacher, or the group of teachers responsible for the multi-age classroom, typically stay with that group until that graduate to the next level. This garners the opportunity for students to work with the same teacher(s) for several years instead of having to meet new teachers at the beginning of each new school year. Remaining with the same educator (and likewise the students and families) builds greater trust, understanding, meaningful learning opportunities, and overall positive relationships. Taking away the uncomfortable, awkward period at meeting new faces at the beginning of a school year saves valuable time, plus raw emotion.

5. "The most attractive advantage of the idealized multi-age classrooms to educators may be that it is aligned with the belief that students should learn at an individual pace to reach their full potential " (Song, Spradlin, & Plucker, 2009).

As you can see, Differentiation is for everyone. Click To Tweet

Have you heard the thought that soon, every student is doing to have an IEP (Individualized Education Plan)? Students with IEPs require a certain level of care and attention placed on them and their education based upon the specially designed instruction that has been created for them based on learning needs and preferences. In my opinion, and always found within my classroom, is differentiated instruction on an ongoing basis. Why should a student have to have a legal document in place to gain access to fair learning opportunities? The idea behind placing students in classrooms and given the time to achieve skills based on his or her own pace shouldn't be a new idea? It's an idea that just makes sense so that every student gets what he or she needs to achieve success.

As educators, I urge you to consider what your classroom, your content area, may look like with a variety of ages in it? How could you change your teaching methods to meet the needs of different ages? Perhaps, not much would have to change simply because of age? How would lower ability students benefit from others? What about the gifted students? On-grade level students? What about you? Would you change to become a more compassionate, inclusive, aware teacher?

Reference:
Song, R., Spradlin, T. E., & Plucker, J. A. (2009). , The Advantages and Disadvantages of Multiage Classrooms in the Era of NCLB Accountability. The Center for Evaluation & Education Policy Education Policy Brief,(1), winter 2009, 1-2. Retrieved July 21, 2017, from http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED504569.pdf.

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The Argument for Multi-Grade Classrooms in Today's Schools

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The idea behind having a variety of ages, or grades, in one classroom, should not be a foreign concept. On any given day, most adults interact with individuals from an assortment of populations: family members, co-workers, neighbors, service personnel, teammates, etc... Rarely outside of schools do you see individuals grouped based on a specific age.

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Sarah Jean-Gilles, a 14-year veteran of the teaching profession, has always lived in "a world of desks and tables."

No longer.

In her combined fourth- and fifth-grade classroom at Pittsfield Elementary School, the 19 students scatter around the room - some sitting at desks, others on the ground, standing up or leaning against a wall.

In the middle, 9-year-old Elise Berry alternately leafed through The Fledgling, a novel, and the laptop she had open in front of her on the ground. She likes her new class.

"You can set your plan for your day and you can do it on your own - and I like being in a small group," she said.

Fifteen minutes later, the students gathered together in groups of five or so, stood up and talked about the chapters in whatever novel they had been reading.

"That's been a big change - to go from, 'Does it look like you're working?' to, 'Are you actually working?' " Jean-Gilles said after class.

Her class is part of a project combining multi-age classroom settings with competency-based instruction. Other schools participating in the grant-funded pilot include Ashland Elementary in Ashland, Parker Varney in Manchester, the Daniel J. Bakie School in Kingston and Memorial Elementary in Newton.

A reform that aims to more authentically track student learning, competency-based education's hallmark is the jettisoning of traditional grading systems. Instead of receiving As and Bs, students are told, specifically, whether they are achieving competency - or, as some call it, "proficiency" - in individual skills, whether it be long multiplication or identifying a theme in a work of fiction. Students are expected to work at their own pace, moving on to the next topic only when they've actually demonstrated they understand the material.

While multi-age classrooms are themselves nothing new - they are often used in New Hampshire when enrollment in certain grades gets low - their use in a competency-based setting doesn't appear to have been studied much at all.

Multi-age classrooms generally haven't been a central strategy for educators implementing competency-based instruction, said Chris Sturgis of CompetencyWorks.org. But because both are built on the assumption that all students shouldn't just be listening to the same lecture, she said, they're certainly compatible, at least in theory.

"Multi-age grouping does create the expectations that you personalize the education for kids," Sturgis wrote in an email. "In a multi-age classroom you can't just deliver one grade level curriculum. Teachers will have to organize the classroom around personalizing instruction to ensure that students are getting instruction and building . . . skills based on their personal educational trajectories."

Competency-based education can take a lot of instructional resources - often, more than one teacher will float between students working in groups or individually, checking in on progress and intervening when students struggle (or dawdle).

In a state with several small schools, concentrating so many resources in one place can be difficult.

"Efficiency-wise, we find that it's more difficult to put that together at a single grade," said Paul Leather, deputy commissioner of the state Department of Education, which is administering the grant.

The hope is that multi-age groupings will allow schools to concentrate instructional resources on larger classes, where kids can work flexibly or alone or in groups.

Jean-Gilles and another teacher at Pittsfield Elementary, Bernadette Rowley, who is experimenting with a multi-age first- and second-grade classroom, both said the same thing: The range of ability in their classes before they consolidated looked a lot like what it does now. A second-grader could just as likely be reading at a second-grade level as he or she could at a kindergarten or third-grade level.

But going to a multi-age setting with a competency-based curriculum has meant changing expectations about where kids should be in their learning.

"That's the most exciting part about my multi-age classroom - I feel like I can give them what they need," Rowley said. "If you give a second-grader second-grade work, but they're on a kindergarten level, you're setting them up to fail."

What research does exist about multi-age groupings doesn't suggest they're better or worse than traditional classrooms in terms of academic outcomes, but some research indicates improvements in social-emotional learning and class bonding.

At Pittsfield Elementary, administrators will ultimately write a report reflecting on whether the multi-age experiment led to better outcomes. They're collecting data on student achievement, behavior and attendance.

Jean-Gilles said she had noticed some changes, even just within a month of trying out her new class structure.

"I think there's a really strong sense of community, and I think the students feel like they're being valued and supported," she said.

Her instructional aide, Christine Darling, joked that students were still telling her they loved coming to class - a sentiment that usually doesn't last past the first week of school.

Jean-Gilles also said that children who had often been isolated - either because they were too far ahead or falling behind - seemed better socially integrated this year.

There are, of course, some challenges. Most notably, essentially designing a lesson for every child.

"The prep," Jean-Gilles said. "Trying to find materials and activities across such a range of learning can be really challenging."

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Pittsfield Elementary School adopts competency-based, multi-age classroom program

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Sarah Jean-Gilles, a 14-year veteran of the teaching profession, has always lived in "a world of desks and tables." No longer. In her combined fourth- and fifth-grade classroom at Pittsfield Elementary School, the 19 students scatter around the room - some sitting at desks, others on the ground, standing up or leaning against a wall.

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Dive Brief:

Chicago charter CICS West Belden is among schools experimenting with a team teaching approach in a multi-age classroom for personalized learning, according to The Hechinger Report.

The school is experimenting with new nontraditional grade combinations to allow a focus on the individual needs of students and to allow students to get needed supports from above or below their current grade level.

Most of these multiage arrangements at the school are teacher-led, and the school is tracking data to see whether different multi-age combinations benefit student achievement.

Dive Insight:

The idea of multi-age classrooms is not new. In fact, the notion preceded the idea of grade levels in education. But the growth of personalized learning and the expansion of technology in the classroom is allowing schools to explore innovative ideas when it comes to team-teaching and multi-age classrooms.

There are benefits to the approach because having students work together across grade levels is a more natural arrangement. In most situations in life, including families and work situations, people are interacting with various age groups and ability levels all the time, so school settings are not that different. In fact, research indicates that multi-age groupings actually improve social emotional learning and class bonding.

While there is still more research that needs to be done on the academic impact of such arrangements, anecdotally, multi-age classrooms appear to be working. CISC West Belden School reports that "multi-age classrooms enable improvement in both teaching and learning at West Belden. Combining students in multiple grades allows students the ability to move faster or slower in individual subjects. It also enables improved learning opportunities like spiraled curriculum and peer-to-peer learning, among others. Since teachers work in content teams across grade levels they have access to more resources to meet the differentiated needs of each student."

Of course, the team-teaching approach has advantages and disadvantages, and success depends on the personalities of the teachers and the strategies they use. However, this is another example of what can occur when teachers are allowed the freedom to innovate.

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Multi-age classrooms can strengthen personalized learning for students and teachers

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Chicago charter CICS West Belden is among schools experimenting with a team teaching approach in a multi-age classroom for personalized learning, according to The Hechinger Report. The school is experimenting with new nontraditional grade combinations to allow a focus on the individual needs of students and to allow students to get needed supports from above or below their current grade level.