The Benefits of Multi-The Benefits of Multi-Age ClassroomsAge Classrooms

The Benefits of Multi-The Benefits of Multi-Age ClassroomsAge Classrooms

Presented to our ParentsPresented to our Parents

Did You Know????• In 1806, Napoleon Bonaparte,

the emperor of France, defeated the army of Prussia.

• Prussian leaders reformed their school system. One of the reforms was age grading.

The idea was….• To keep the boys from becoming

too emotionally involved with their teachers.

• Schooling was not “wasted” on the girls in 1806.

Horace Mann advocated for the inclusion of age

grading in 1840.• Sixty years later, age grading

became the standard practice in American Schools.

Students have become…

•Prisoners of Time• Age limits their opportunities.• Students who learn fast are prohibited

from continual learning.• All students of a certain age do not learn

the same thing at the same pace.

• National Education Commission on Time and Learning

Innovations from 200 years ago are not effective today.

• When teachers and students work together for two years or longer, the focus becomes a personalization of learning and growth for children by teachers who know their students individually and care about them deeply.

Multi-age Grouping• Allows student to interact across

age groups and have long-term relationships with other students and teachers.

• Is reminiscent of the one-room schoolhouse.

Multi-Age Classrooms• Are “Socially and psychologically

healthy places” because they promote “children’s friendships and provide extended contact with adults and peers of varying ages.”– Pratt (1993)

The Benefits• There are fewer discipline referrals

(Paven, 1992).• More students have opportunities

to be leaders.• Affective advantages (higher self-

esteem, close communities, social and academic achievement)

Results from a twenty year study by David

Marshak• Parents perceive a Personalization

of Learning when their child is taught by the same teacher more than one school year.

• Each child is known individually and teachers can provide supporting learning opportunities.

Safety, Respect, and Care

• Students feel…..– safe and cared for!– respected by their teachers!– respect for their school, teachers,

and each other!– very much at “home”!

Student Responsibility and Commitment

• Children organize and manage their own activities.

• They take a significant amount of responsibility for themselves and for their learning and their behavior.

• They make a lot of choices.

Desire to Learn• Students like coming to school.• Parents state that teachers

empower students to take responsibility for themselves.

Words of Wisdom• “Expecting all children the same

age to learn from the same materials is like expecting all children the same age to wear the same size clothing.”

• Madeline Hunter (1964)