This paper describes a multiage elementary classroom where students can work, learn, and research together. Students ages 6-9 years collaborate on whole-class research inquiries and individual projects. The paper presents examples of these children's work as ethnographers, emphasizing the importance of honoring students' creative abilities. (SM)

A confusing variety of terms is used in discussions of age grouping practices. This digest examines terms that have important implications for teaching and the curriculum. The terms "nongraded" and "ungraded" typically refer to grouping children in classes without grade-level designations and with more than a 1-year age span.…

Across the country, states are pushing to close their small rural schools with the mistaken hope of saving money, in spite of overwhelming evidence that smaller schools are beneficial for students, and that they frequently function as the glue that binds together small communities, serving as their economic and social hub. The battle is even more…

This description of a curricular adaptation decision-making process focuses on tenets of reflective practice as teachers design instruction for students in heterogeneous classrooms. A case example illustrates how an elementary teaching team transformed lessons to accommodate a wide range of learners in a multiage first- and second-grade classroom.…

Six teachers from small and rural schools throughout the Northeast were selected as the 1990-91 Laboratory Fellows by the Regional Laboratory for Educational Improvement of the Northeast and Islands. These teachers were chosen for their exceptional strategies for incorporating multilevel grouping in their classrooms, grades 6-12. This publication…

Investigated how students and teachers in mixed-age classes spent their learning time during reading, language arts, and mathematics. No significant differences between single- and multi-aged classes was found. Concludes that teachers found working in mixed-age classes very difficult, with most working as if they were teaching two different…

This report summarizes research literature on multiage classrooms, explaining how they operate, and describes a study of a low-performing, predominantly Native American school district which adopted multiage classrooms as its primary reform strategy. District teachers completed surveys about: planning; collaboration; student groupings and…

This guidebook integrates basic strategies for developing a multiage-classroom design. The book begins by describing developmentally appropriate practice (DAP), which is based on a curriculum and an instructional-delivery methodology that address the physical, social, intellectual, emotional, and aesthetic needs of young students. Students are…

This study examined the perceptions of teachers experienced in working with mixed-age groups in child care settings for children from birth through age 12. A mixed-age group was defined as one with children having at least a two-year range in age. Questionnaires were mailed to 92 licensed family child care and school-age child care providers in…

Before 1970, no mixed-age groups existed in Swedish nursery schools. By 1991, 43 percent of children enrolled in nursery school were in mixed-age groups of ages 1 to 6 years, and 37 percent were in groups of children ages 3 to 6 years. Mixed-age groups are assumed to have advantages, including positive influences on learning and social…

Questionnaires were developed to get demographic, administrative, and pedagogical information from both rural and urban districts. Replies were received from 89.9 percent of the superintendents or directors of education, 83 percent of the principals of schools with multigraded classrooms, and 80 percent of the teachers of multigraded classes. An…

This research examines how a developmentally appropriate educational program in the early years can affect the development of gifted children. The qualitative research specifically focused on a multi-age, multi-ability setting with partial implementation of a whole language program, a systematic writing process and with some flexibility in…

The purpose of the Meeting Students' Needs in the Multiage Group Environment (MSN) program was to provide an instructional system to meet the needs of elementary school students of differing achievement, age, and grade level who are in the same classroom. The program, for kindergarten through grade six, was characterized by an innovative…

Over 400 journal articles, case studies, research reports, dissertations, and position papers are briefly described in a series of eight selected bibliographies related to school organization. The eight specific areas treated in the volume and the number of items listed for each include: nongraded elementary school organization, 96; nongraded…

As the world becomes more diverse socially, culturally, and economically, there are growing expectations that the individual's differences and rights will be recognized, respected, and responded to in positive ways. This book provides teachers of both multi-age and diverse single-age classrooms guidance on classroom organization, curriculum…