State mandates in Kentucky, Oregon, Mississippi, and Tennessee have raised questions concerning multiage grouping's viability. Some educators are implementing multiage classrooms and schools with insufficient forethought, planning, and stakeholder participation. A recent study underlines the importance of teacher readiness, parental involvement,…

Describes the collaborative literacy activity that occurred in one teacher's sociodramatic play center in a multi-age classroom (K-2) and a kindergarten classroom. Finds the children in the multi-age group engaged in a larger amount and a broader range of collaborative literacy activities than did the kindergartners; and the collaborative…

Swedish official documents for nursery and compulsory schools suggest that mixed-age groups are beneficial to children's learning and socioemotional development. Early evaluations confirmed these assumptions. However, results from more sophisticated comparative evaluations do not support these assumptions. Instructional recommendations based on…

This report documents the progress that school districts in Kentucky have made in implementing provisions of the Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990. This bill mandated that all elementary schools become non-graded, multi-age, multi-ability primary schools by the fall of 1993. During the spring of 1993, observations and teacher surveys were…

Examines four types of kindergarten programs (developmental, multiage, full-day, and lower class size) to determine which best accommodates developmental differences while enhancing youngsters' readiness for formal schooling. Low-income, urban areas should implement full-day kindergarten programs and smaller classes in first through third grades.…

This study evaluated a project for integrating preschool- and school-age children in a joint educational program. The integration project (SKOBO) has been implemented in all education units in the investigated municipality. Each school has, however, had a considerable degree of freedom in carrying out the program with the potential to find its…

A project was developed in the Columbia, Missouri, public schools to use computer technology as a catalyst and support for systemic school reform to implement multiage grouping of students. Classrooms were grouped as grades K-1 and 2-3. This report includes all the formative evaluation data collected throughout the implementation of this project,…

Because the primary years are the point where specific changes are required in teaching practice and school organization, a task force examined Kentucky's primary program through school visits, interviews, expert testimony, and research. The last three years have shown marked improvement in student performance in the basics (reading, writing, and…