School restructuring movements have gained a great deal of national attention. This guidebook addresses the multi-age classroom movement, in which a mixed-age group of children stays with a given teacher for a number of years. The work provides a complete design for the mixed-age primary classroom, from philosophy and rationale to sample lesson plans and evaluation forms. Teachers and administrators are provided with answers to all their questions about planning, implementation, environment, curriculum, management, assessment, and evaluation. Chapter one provides an organizational and philosophic framework for successful implementation. Chapter two assists in creating a personal multi-age grouping philosophy. Chapter three addresses designing classroom space for multi-age grouping. Chapter four addresses the processes for planning the multi-age curriculum, while chapter five addresses specific curriculum subject areas. Chapter six provides sample curriculum plans. Chapter seven discusses assessing student progress through portfolios. Chapter eight provides timelines and strategies for implementing multi-age grouping. Chapter nine provides criteria for evaluating a multi-age program. Forty-six forms, logs, checklists, and assessments are provided throughout the guide. (Contains 161 professional sources). (SD)