Ode to the One-Room Schoolhouse

By Barbara Berst Adams

Eight-year-old Elizabeth snuggled in the lap of twelve-year-old Kelsey as they read a starry together. Elizabeth held the book and read, while Kelsey found ways to help her understand the words that stumped her. As I witnessed this scene in a mixed-age public school classroom, I saw something I was yearning to offer my own children: placement in the loving village that it takes to raise a child. I was a volunteer researcher for the school district my children attended, gathering information and working alongside one of their more innovative teachers, as well as a paid teacher of after-school art and craft programs. Before creating that teacher's own multiage classroom, we observed many other successful ones. The information I would discover opened my eyes to a new way of seeing education.

According to the report "Nongraded Primary Education," written by Joan Gaustad and funded by the Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI), US Department of Education, mass public education was created in the mid-1800s from the need for an efficient, economical system capable of handling large numbers of students. Graded education--the practice of classifying and dividing students by age--spread rapidly throughout the US and has remained the standard until the present. In an effort to return to a more natural way of learning, many experimental nongraded programs were tried in the 1960s and early 1970s, but they failed due to inadequate understanding, lack of administrative and community support, and poorly planned implementation. But in the 1990s, educators and citizens were reevaluating their schools and proposing reforms to meet the needs of diverse social and economic groups. Nongraded primary education became a key component of many reform proposals, including the Kentucky Educational Reform Act and the Oregon Educational Act for the 21st Century. The newer nongraded model appearing in some public and private schools today is supported by additional decades of research and refined by the study of successful programs.

As public schools observe the growth of homeschooling and other options for children, new ways of educating are seeping into mainstream schools to accommodate a society with changing values. For my family's situation, homeschooling was, at best, a part-time option. We could not afford the various wonderful private schools in our area. So here I was, volunteering in the public school system in my search to find an option that would nurture individual children's differences even as it encouraged cooperation among them.

One of the most intriguing options I discovered was the mixed-age classroom, in which different ages and grade levels are deliberately combined in one class--kindergarten through second grade, for example, or fourth through sixth. Schools that eliminate the use of grade levels are usually called multiage, while those that combine different grade levels but still use grade levels within the classroom are more often called multigrade, though the terms are often used interchangeably. Another variation is the split-level classroom, in which two traditional grades, such as fifth and sixth, are combined. My children ultimately attended a classroom that combined four different traditional grades. As a parent volunteer who both helped create this mixed-age classroom and chose this system for her children, I saw many advantages, as well as some challenges.

Advantages

Did we lose something valuable when we lost the one-room schoolhouse? Perhaps so. Russell Yates of Chimacum Elementary School in Chimacum, Washington, teaches a class that combines the third, fourth, and fifth grades. "I have taught sixth, fourth, and third single-grade classes," he says. "In all of those classes, I found management and discipline to be a relatively major issue. It seemed that no matter what I did as a teacher, students were too competitive with one another. Students seemed to believe that since they were all the same age, they should all be at the same academic level, with exactly the same skills and abilities. The children who varied from the norm, both above and below the average ability of the class, were pressured by the students to conform. If they didn't conform, then they were made fun of, or were ostracized to a certain extent."

As I observed successful multiage classrooms in Canada and Washington State before the creation of the multiage class my own kids would eventually take part in, I noticed that every child was on his or her own individual path of learning in a continuum that mutually supported the greater social structure (in this case, the other classmates) around them. I realized I was witnessing a touch of that "village." Many different ages and skill levels interacted, competitiveness naturally melted away, and the higher forms of human interaction--such as the desire to help others--came forward. When there is no obvious unit of measurement to be compared to, competitiveness has less fuel to grow on. The late Francis Swapp taught in one of the last one-room schoolhouses in the state of Washington. In it, she said, "There was a place for every student in my classroom. Even for the retarded boy. He flourished. When he went on to be bused to the larger public schools, he was nearly destroyed."

As my own two children grew through their multiage classroom, I noticed that this sense of "village" permeated the class, creating a positive social structure that silently fed every action taken by each child. Instead of fearing the older kids, the younger ones looked up to them. Instead of bullying younger children, older kids found strength by helping them, which drew out such nongraded "skills" as empathy. As my son, Jeremy, who spent four years in this classroom, explained, "I knew what the younger ones were feeling, because I had been in their shoes."

Along with enhanced learning, what surfaced in the mixed-age classrooms I observed were more chances for self-esteem and a lessening of fears. The older students could look at the younger ones and see how far they themselves had come. The younger students didn't have to guess or fear what was coming next; they just watched the older students, then jumped right in when it was their turn.

The acquiring of knowledge itself came about in a new (or old) way. Third graders, through osmosis or passive learning, absorbed the lessons of the fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-grade students. By the time they reached the older students' grade levels, there was already a foundation built. Older students had their past lessons reinforced by tutoring the younger, or by overhearing younger students being taught what they had once learned. Their academic learning went deeper and expanded further by having to teach what they had once been taught. Ginger Hunt, who teaches a mix of the fourth, fifth, and sixth grades in a 100 percent Navajo school, has found, after five years of teaching mixed ages, that children's mastery of academic subjects not only does not suffer but appears to increase. "Our multiage kids tend to do better on the standardized tests than the kids in single-grade classes at our school," she said.

Challenges

One of the first criticisms of the mixed-age classroom I was involved with was, "How can one teacher teach to four different levels in one classroom?" The answer came swiftly the first day this class was in operation. As children of many ages filed into the room, I looked over the class's reading test scores. The range was huge. The lowest-scoring child was reading at the first-grade level, the highest-scoring at the highest high school level. Both of these children were fourth-grade girls. My point is that even when you have all the fourth graders together in one class, and even if they're all the same gender, you can still get a wide range of skill levels. But in this multiage classroom, competitiveness fell away, making the inevitable differences among individual human beings not a liability but an asset. Some of the poorest-scoring readers excelled once they began teaching the younger kids how to read, and by overhearing the younger ones receive their reading lessons. Those at higher levels were able to progress at their own pace and not wait for the others to catch up.

"I've observed that children go through intellectual growth spurts just as they do physical ones," says Russell Yates, "and that those growth spurts don't always happen at exactly the same age for all children. Of course, this means that any one classroom--even a single-graded classroom--has a very diverse range of students. This really came home to me the last year that I taught a third-grade single-grade classroom. I had one student whose language ability was rated as equivalent to that of a four year old, while in the same class another child was tested as reading above the 12th-grade level. The question I had a hard time answering that year was how to meet both of their needs, to help them grow and be successful. That was the turning point for me ... the next year, I became a multiage teacher."

But while even single-grade classrooms must attempt to teach at many different levels, multiage classrooms present other real challenges. Many parents prefer that their child has a new teacher every year, but most mixed-age classes have the same teacher for at least two years. Also, because mixed-age classes are relatively new, they can be a challenge for substitute teachers. The substitutes that came to my own children's classroom were either overwhelmed and never wanted to return, or were in awe at the program and the children's cooperative maturity and wanted to learn more about it.

Another challenge: Do we really want our 8-year-old girls talking with 12-year-old girls about boys and makeup? One parent eventually pulled her third-grade daughter out of a mixed-age class. The mother felt the girl was naturally drawn to teenage behavior at an early age and found that her daughter overdid this part of herself when she was with older girls. Yet Connie Barnes, another parent with a daughter who spent four years in mixed-age education, said, "We didn't have a problem with that at all." The personality of the child and what she is drawn to seem to be determining factors in whether or not a multiage class is appropriate for her.

Yet another challenge comes when the wishes and learning style of the child are in conflict with a mixed-grade education. Some children may have trouble working independently with a lot of activity going on around them. In most mixed-age classes, children work independently or in small groups while the teacher focuses on one group at a time. If a child needs more constant adult attention during independent study, a multiage class might be difficult, unless this challenge is acknowledged ahead of time by the teacher, and an older buddy or aide is assigned.

What to look for when choosing a multiage class

[1] Are differences among students celebrated and woven into a greater whole, or is the aim to draw many ages toward a "common center"? A teacher and I studied one class for which children from the fourth, fifth, and sixth grades had been selected specifically because they "seemed like fifth graders." This wasn't the symphony of differences we were searching for in creating a mixed-age class.

[2] Do the teacher's values closely enough match your own? Some teachers love adolescence and promote it, expecting makeup and boyfriend-girlfriend desires to arise. Others see adolescence as something that can be shortened and softened into a brief interlude between a long childhood and an early adulthood that retains a childlike wonder and enthusiasm When contemplating a mixed-age class whose teacher might be with your children for two years or more, it's important that you agree with the teacher's outlook.

[3] What is the personality match between the teacher and your child? Both may have great personalities on their own, but what happens when they come together? A multiage class keeps the same teacher with the child during the course of the program, unless a special system has been created in which two or more teachers work in partnership and trade students. While a student/teacher personality match is important for any classroom, it's especially important for people who will work closely together for more than a single school year.

[4] Are other adults allowed to participate in the class? A multiage class is an extension of an intergenerational social structure in which elementary students and even younger children, all the way up to grandparents, are actively involved in children's lives. I loved the teacher in the four-year program my children were enrolled in. but I wanted my children exposed to other adult "villagers as well. In their classroom, parents and grandparents were given ample time to volunteer in many different ways, and experts in fields of interest were brought in to help teach. For example, one child's mother was an award-winning journalist. She came once a week to lead a group of students in writing and publishing a school newspaper and then arranged for the entire classroom to tour the facilities at a large city newspaper. Another child's father was a stay-at-home dad with a scientist wife; he volunteered during the day, writing notes on the chalkboard and helping supervise activities. This situation presented boys and girls with new gender options.

[5] Where will your child go after the mixed-age class? If he then attends a traditional graded class, he may be ahead of those students and find the class boring. Because children in a mixed-grade class can move ahead at their own pace, those who are naturally behind in certain topics often catch up, and those who are naturally at grade level often excel. Are there options after the mixed-age class for your child to continue at the pace he has developed?

My own children went directly into middle school, where there were options for electing classes of high interest and entering gifted classes. The social transition, too, was easy for those from the mixed-age class. "My daughter adjusted fine," said Connie Barnes, whose daughter spent four years in a mixed-age class. Nat Woodsmith spent three years in a mixed-age classroom before entering middle school: "It made it easier because I was already used to older kids being around me, so going to school with older kids wasn't that big of a change."

[6] Does the teacher have any glaring academic weaknesses? Like anyone else, teachers can excel in certain subjects yet be not so sharp in others. This problem can be remedied if the child eventually gets a new teacher who fills in the gaps, but it can grow worse if teacher and students stay together for years. One school's system corrected this situation by having two teachers with different strengths team up with two mixed-age classes. Other teachers bring in outside experts to create a more rounded curriculum and fill in any gaps the teachers themselves may have.

Obviously, which type of school, class structure, and options will be best can be decided only by considering each child's unique mix of needs, desires, and aptitudes. Parents can call their public school offices to find out if multiage classes are offered or in the planning stage, and if and when they can observe them if they're available. Parents can also approach the school or even individual teachers with materials on multiage classrooms to see if enough interest can be built up to get one formed. All educational options are growing and evolving, from homeschooling to public schools; multiage classrooms may be one worth looking into.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Books

Chase, Penelle, and Jane Doan. Full Circle: A New Look at Multiage Education. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 1994.

Grant, Jim, Bob Johnson, and Irv Richardson. Multiage Q&A: 101 Practical Answers to Your Most Pressing Questions. Peterborough, NH: Crystal Springs Books, 1996.

Ostrow, Jill. A Room with a Different View, Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers, 1995.

For an extensive bibliography, see www.mothering.com/section/extras/ multiage.html

Barbara Berst Adams is a freelance writer and author of Micro Eco-Farming: Prospering from Backyard to Small Acreage in Partnership with the Earth, New World Publishing.