The Benefits of Multi-Age Classrooms

1. The Benefits of Multi-Age Classrooms Presented to our Parents

2. 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.

3. The idea was…. • To keep the boys from becoming too emotionally involved with their teachers. • Schooling was not “wasted” on the girls in 1806.

4. Horace Mann advocated for the inclusion of age grading in 1840. • Sixty years later, age grading became the standard practice in American Schools.

5. 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

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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)

9. 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)

10. 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.

11. 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”!

12. 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.

13. Desire to Learn • Students like coming to school. • Parents state that teachers empower students to take responsibility for themselves.

14. 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)