Mixing grade levels helps students excel, teachers say
One thing leads to another.
That’s what teachers at West Elementary in the multi-age classrooms are counting on again this year. Multi-age education is based on a philosophy that children learn at different rates. Children in multi-age classrooms are allowed to make continuous progress, necessitating a difference in curriculum, organization and instructional strategies
Alpha Rhea, who helped develop the program at West more than 11 years ago, said multi-age classrooms provide “cooperative learning and cooperative socialization.”
Multi-age learning allows students a measure of success not always attainable in regular classrooms. Younger children gain from exposure to above-grade-level material and older children tend to be ahead of where they would be had they spent the year in a single-age classroom.
This success leads to higher self-esteem for students and fewer instances of behavioral problems. “I have found the behavior problems are so much less because all day long they are challenged and they are moving,” said Terrie Mullican, one of the multi-age teachers at West.
Rhea agrees, “I think after our students leave our program and they’ve aged a little bit, they have a better adaptability.”
Developing a curriculum for multi-age classrooms is a team effort. Because of changing federal and state guidelines for curriculum, multi-age teachers adapt their program as necessary.
West has two teams of multi-age faculty called Primary A and Primary B. Both groups have their own unique schedule and methods. “We try to think outside the box,” said Rhea.
West’s program includes first- and second-grade students who are called Bears and Bees.
Students in the multi-age classrooms switch rooms for a variety of classes including science, and social studies and they are regrouped according to grade level for math and reading.
Outside the box thinking and planning helps the team of teachers determine which kids need help and which are ready to move on. It also helps them to stay accountable to the team, curriculum and the students.
“Since the beginning, what our program has been built on is teamwork, for the teachers and students,” said Mullican. “We try to differentiate instruction according to where we find the students and where we need to move them.”
A team of teachers also helps to keep tabs on student’s progress academically and otherwise, since the students switch classes and can be observed by more than one teacher each day.
“Usually if you only have one self-contained classroom they only feel responsible to that one teacher,” said teacher Janice Marcum.
Teacher Nancy McGregor agrees. “They rely on more than one teacher,” she said. “They confide in more than one teacher.”