One-room schoolhouses are few and far between at this point, but some educators and parents still believe that multiage classrooms are the best educational approach.
Often found in Montessori and other nontraditional schools, multiage classrooms typically span two or three grade levels. In a Montessori lower elementary classroom, for instance, students from ages 6 to 9 may be in a single class together, but break up into different small groups by ability in different subjects.
Multiage classrooms were standard in American schools until the mid-19th century, when they began to be replaced by a curriculum-centered, grade-level system. Education reformers later revived the idea of multiage education, particularly in the 1990s, arguing that it’s a more child-centered and developmentally appropriate approach.
The No Child Left Behind Act of 2002 complicated efforts to establish multiage classrooms, since it required grade-level standardized testing each year. But advocates say grade-level learning, in which instruction is often geared toward the average student of a particular grade, isn’t the best fit for many children.
Here are some of the pros and the cons of multiage classrooms.
Benefits of Multiage Classrooms
Students Learn at Their Own Pace
As a fifth grade math teacher in the Houston public schools, Joel Rose noticed that some students entered his classroom on a second grade level, some were already at the eighth grade level, and then there was everyone else in between — making it very difficult to teach. That’s when Rose began advocating for a more individualized approach to learning.
He’s now the co-founder and CEO of New Classrooms, a nonprofit that develops and promotes technology for personalized math learning, in which students are continually regrouped based on what they’re working on rather than their age.
[READ: Tackling Math Anxiety.]
“Multiage classrooms can help ensure that students receive education on what they know and what they’re ready to learn next,” he says. Rose says this type of learning is especially helpful in middle grade math and for early literacy, two areas where personalization is particularly important for making sure students hit key milestones.
The curriculum in a multiage classroom is flexible to the needs of each child, says Sandra Stone, professor emeritus at Northern Arizona University and founder of the university’s National Multiage Institute. For example, she says, in one multiage classroom she observed, 9- to 11-year-old children who were excelling in math were given the opportunity to advance to algebra, a subject typically not taught until eighth grade, when students are 12 or 13.
“In the multiage classroom, every child moves forward and is not limited by a grade-level curriculum,” Stone says.
Teachers Can Continually Refigure the Classroom
While multiage classes tend to have more students than traditional classes, children often work in small groups that shift frequently. Rose says it’s possible to regroup students throughout the school year based on their abilities, so that they are always with others at their academic level.
This is much more difficult to do in a traditional grade-level school, where students may work in different groups for some subjects but generally stay within grade-level standards. Ideally, children would be regrouped every quarter as needed, Rose says.
Children Build Social Skills
Studies have shown multiage classrooms to be “as effective as single-grade schooling in terms of academic achievement and better in terms of social learning,” according to a 2015 article in the Journal of Educational and Social Research. That may be because students learn from each other.
[READ: How Schools Incorporate Social-Emotional Learning]
“Children are learning how to work and play with others of mixed ages, how to negotiate, to support, to compromise, to learn and build diverse friendships with children of different ages,” says Stone.
Older children in a multiage classroom “often take on a leadership role, and help guide their classmates,” according to Victoria Taylor, an early childhood teacher who blogs about multiage classrooms. That can be beneficial for their development and social skills, she wrote in an email.
Drawbacks of Multiage Classrooms
Challenges for Teachers
Experts say multiage classrooms pose some challenges for teachers, especially those who haven’t been trained in this approach. Teaching can be more difficult because mixed-age classes tend to be larger and teachers are required to continually assess the students to see if they should be moved into a different group, Taylor says.
In addition, most textbooks are geared toward traditional single-grade classrooms. “It can be difficult to create an appropriate curriculum for multiple ages,” she adds.
Discipline Can Be Difficult
While classrooms where students are grouped by academic ability can be easier in some ways, the range of ages and maturity levels can create discipline challenges if the students aren’t properly supervised, Taylor says. And larger classes mean children may not get the same level of individual attention as in a typical grade-level classroom.
More Work for Administrators
Changing to a multiage classroom means rethinking schedules, staffing and communication with parents, Rose says — and the literal cost of switching can be high. “Many school districts aren’t in a position to do that,” he says.
Plus, because public school students must take state tests in certain grades, teachers in multiage classrooms may still have to take time for age-specific test prep. Blending standardized learning with the multiage classroom approach can be tricky, though not impossible — some public schools have managed to incorporate mixed-age classrooms.
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The Pros and Cons of Multiage Classrooms originally appeared on usnews.com
