The Mexican educational reform is based on transformations towards the conception of a new world, as a result of technological advances and new knowledge communities, where the parameters are established mainly by various international organizations, and where countries implement, evaluate, integrate and describe the necessary conditions for…

The purpose of this project, which the author as a mentor has realized during the 2006/2007, was to invent new Educational model, to fill the gap in Education by showing the positive influence of Multimedia Art, especially Multimedia Performance on Permanent Learning at the level of primary school students, college students and teachers or on…

The goal of this study was to describe the potential educational opportunities that lie in self-directed age-mixed interactions among children and adolescents. A qualitative analysis was used to generate ideas about goals and benefits of such interactions. The setting for the study was Sudbury Valley School (Massachusetts), a private school with…

Inspired by Lilian Katz's lectures and books, the staff of Hollywood Elementary School in southern Maryland embraced Katz's philosophy of developmentally appropriate programs, project learning, and multiage grouping. This paper describes Hollywood's journey as a school community to implement these strategies, discussing the multiage organization…

This study examined teacher perceptions during the implementation of a nongraded, multiage primary school program. Issues surrounding teacher beliefs about the definition, challenges, and benefits of nongradedness were examined. Individual case studies and a cross-case analysis were completed through content analysis. Six classroom teachers…

Examined the class formation procedures used in 22 elementary schools from two districts and the influence these procedures had on the composition of 200 classes, 56 of which were combination classes of students from two grade levels. Principals tended to assign higher ability and more independent students to combination classes to ease teacher…

On the basis of a comprehensive best-evidence synthesis of the literature on the effects of multigrade and multi-age classes, Veenman (1995) concluded that there were no significant differences between multigrade and single-grade classes in cognitive or achievement effects. Subsequently, Mason and Burns (1996) challenged Veenman's conclusion,…

A study investigated whether grade-level status affects learning through cross-age activities. Data were collected through unstructured and open-ended audiotaped interviews with 11 pairs of students in a combined third- and fifth-grade class. Coding and analysis of data revealed seven themes related to students' perceptions of their interactions…

In 1993, the Michigan legislature passed a bill that allowed school districts to adopt early elementary school program initiatives. These initiatives established nongraded, continuous progress programs for grades 1 through 4. An overview of how the state coordinator helped school districts implement this multiage, nongraded model is presented in…

A study addressed the question of how young children's spontaneous use of private speech in the kindergarten classroom varies as a function of contextual variables, such as type of activity, immediate presence of others, degree of teacher-given structure, and classroom age composition. Twenty children from two classrooms (one mixed-age, one…

Portfolios have gained wide acceptance as a learning and assessment tool. Yet, little research has been reported on the practices of teachers who are actually using portfolios within their classrooms and how those practices are moderated by contextual variables. This research examined the instructional, learning, and assessment roles of student…

Considers the relationship between elementary and secondary education. Asserts that mixed-aged groups with a difference of 3 years promote cooperation and mutual support. Discusses scouting and sports as a means of fulfilling the void of purely academic schooling, asserting that organizations of this type provide youth with opportunities to…

This paper explores the difficulties of extending good, workable educational ideas to entire schools or districts. Two restructured schools that participated in a 4-year collaborative project that involved multi-age primary classrooms, inclusion of special-needs students in regular classrooms, and increasing specificity in assessing student…

This article describes the general principles of the philosophy of Montessori education. The basis of Montessori education is a student-centered learning environment--one that includes provision for an inquisitive, cooperative, safe, and nurturing atmosphere for learning. Students' psychosocial needs must be addressed before their cognitive needs,…

The need for intergenerational programming, involving the purposeful bringing together of different generations in ongoing mutually beneficial planned activities designed to achieve specified program goals, is growing in the United States. This paper discusses issues involved in early educational and intergenerational care, focusing on potential…