Multigrade schooling is a strategy to increase the educational opportunities of children in situations where it is impractical to have one primary school teacher per grade because of the limited size of the student population. In a multigrade school, teachers manage two or more classes simultaneously. A single teacher may be responsible for all primary grades. Multigrade schooling is used in isolated rural areas of developed and developing countries. This document presents a summary of the results of a study of the effects of participation in multigrade schools with innovative learning programs on female students. The results presented are from the countries of Guatemala, which has a 10-year history of developing active learning programs for multigrade schools; Nicaragua, which is in the fourth year of developing an active learning program for both multigrade and graded schools; and the Philippines, where the U.S. Department of Education and the United Nations International Children's Education Fund have been working to expand and improve multigrade schooling for about 8 years. The study combined analysis of existing historical data on the selected multigrade education programs with ethnographic assessment in schools and communities to determine elements of such programs that promote girls' persistence in primary school. The document contains six parts: (1) "Overview"; (2) "Setting: Multigrade Schooling and the Rural Poor"; (3) "Active Learning in Multigrade Schools: 'Nueva Escuela Unitaria,''Escuela Modelo,' and the Multigrade Demonstration Schools Project"; (4) "Programs in Action"; (5) "Program Performance: Change in Student Outcomes"; and (6) "Discussion." Includes 3 figures and 14 tables. Includes seven appendices and a bibliography. (BT)