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Multi-Age Classrooms

by Evelyn Petersen

Both "ungraded" and "multi-age" classrooms included mixed age groups in which the children's age span is more than one year. This method or practice is based on educational research which says that young children in mixed age groups can learn best from both the teacher and from each other, as they did in the days of the one room school. In a true "multi-age" classroom, the main intent is that children with different experiences, ages and abilities will work together in small groups in all learning activities planned by teachers. Teachers encourage team learning and cooperation between children of different ages. However, in some mixed age classrooms, teachers group children by their skills or abilities and teach them in SEPARATE homogeneous groups; they do NOT encourage student interaction between groups or across ability levels. These classrooms are usually called "ungraded" classrooms, instead of "multi age".
The original goal of mixed age group learning was to free 5 to 8 year olds and their teachers from rigid expectations for achievement based only on the child's age, and teach in the ways that young children learn best. It was to be a better alternative to traditional, separate classrooms for Kindergarten and Grades 1 and 2.

This trend is based on research which proves that young children up to age 8 learn best when they learn from BOTH teachers and peers, and when they have as many hands on, concrete learning experiences as possible, particularly in the subjects of language arts, math and science. Learning centers are set up in the classroom where children in small groups practice literacy, math and science in many age appropriate ways.

You need to ask your principal what kind of mixed age group teaching and learning is actually going on in your school. What does "ungraded" mean in your school? Is it really "multi-age" learning based on the ways young children learn best, or not? What do teachers do as they teach, and what do children do as they learn? WHY did the school switch to this practice? Was it because administrators really believed children would learn better this way, or was it done simply because of a complex bus schedule? Find out what happens in your school and why.

AN IMPORTANT P.S.

Mixed-age grouping usually works best when it is team taught by two teachers who share the work. Conflicts often occur in school districts where administrators want teachers to do some things the new "multi-age" way and other things the "old" traditional way. For example, they many want teachers to use a standard textbook series for reading, but teach all the other subjects with age appropriate themes, learning centers and resource materials, and work in small, mixed age groups.

Standard reading series materials were not created to be used in "multi-aged" rooms, but in traditional, separate rooms. What usually happens in a mixed age room (5-6) when teachers are required to use a standard reading series is this: In the morning, one teacher uses a series of texts and workbook materials created especially for Kindergarten with the five year olds, and the other uses a series created for First Grade with the 6 year olds. In the afternoon, both teachers use materials and learning centers in both classrooms to teach health, math, science, etc. Children learn in many small mixed age groups, and are NOT separated as Kindergartners or First graders.

Ms. Petersen's nationally syndicated parenting column is carried in over 200 newspapers twice each week. As a family/parenting consultant, early childhood educator, Head Start consultant, and host of a series of parent training audio and video tapes, Ms. Petersen employs an approach of providing hands-on, nuts and bolts advice to parents across the country. Her new book "A Practical Guide to Early Childhood Planning: The What Why and How of Lesson Plans" has just been released.

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