f:\doc\web\98\07\multage.txt Blended classrooms is one variant of multi-age My son is in a blended G1/G2 class as G1. Because he tested high in reading? No because we couldn't fill two full G1 and G2 classes and they pretty much do the same thing. Oh, OK. So his first week homework (yes homework) is to fill in a page of we have 1-N XXXX in the house, and draw a picture. He has to think up a thing, then figure out how to spell it and write it by himself (parents aren't supposed to do it for him)> Second week, write a list of 9 words in alphabetical order, and write complete sentences around each word with no other clues or hints. Next week, they're going to be doing a 3D virtual frog dissection on the internet (you're probably wondering what kids who can barely go from cover to cover in Green Eggs and Ham are doing surfing the web doing high school laboratory science, and I am too) Now if you were a teacher, would you rather take your kids cybersurfing, or teaching the Orton phonograms and drilling addition 10x10 one digit at a time? She's teaching my son how to add by using a number line, but he already had sums to ten nearly memorized, and I wonder the wisdom of teaching 2nd graders that method, it's a hell of a way to do your checkbook if you don't memorize addition and subtraction to / from 20. Somehow I don't think he's going to get a systematic introduction to reading or math, he can sort of read and add to 20 anyways. When I complained the homework was way too hard for a 1st grader's 2nd week, she said they'd get the ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher to come up with some accomodations. ARGH, he reads english better than 99% of the white American kids. We just LOOK Chinese !@#$%. He'll survive with his IQ, but I wonder about the average kids. Here's my file on Kentucky's experiment with multi-age, save the bookmark, my entire wad of research can be found there too. http://www.leconsulting.com/arthurhu/index/edreform.htm#multiage @@Multiple Age Grouping Kentucky may the only state that requires school to NOT group 1-3 graders by age, but by ability. \clip\98\04\edbrief2.txt 2/15/98 Lexington Herald Leader KERA program that mixes ages losing support By Linda B. Blackford HERALD-LEADER EDUCATION WRITER The primary program supported this idea by allowing children to work at their own pace so they could move to the fourth grade when they were ready, without the stigma of retention. Children of all ages worked together according to ability. http://www.edweek.org/ew/vol-15/20ky.h15 \clip\98\01\multiage.txt Education Week February 7, 1996 Ky. Bill To End Multi-Age Grouping in Grades 1-3 Advances By Lonnie Harp " "The teachers and researchers we've talked to say that multi-age grouping is the essential lever to getting primary school teachers to think about continuous progress," said Robert F. Sexton, the executive director of the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence, a statewide citizens' group. "The bill heads in the wrong direction--a return to the status quo." " Date sent: Fri, 02 Oct 1998 00:10:35 -0700 From: Dianne Cassidy Send reply to: "ClearingHouse" To: "ClearingHouse" Subject: [education-consumers] Kentucky's experience with multi-age classes > ===================================================================== > > > Richard and other Kentuckians, I could use your help. > > Blended classrooms has become a hot issue in our community -- many > parents hate it, and the local school experts say that parents just > don't understand anything new. As I was researching this issue, I ran > into several articles that said that Kentucky mandated multi-age > classrooms a few years back. I seem to remember hearing that this > particular experiment was abandoned. Is this correct? And if so, why? > Has the multi-age experiment been a failure there, and is there any > documentation to show what has happened and its correlation to this > trend? > > In Oregon, the education reform bill of 1992 strongly encouraged this > practice, but did not mandate it, and our district has been adding a few > more blended classrooms in each school every year over parents' loud > objections, claiming it's because we save money on teachers with > blends. They aren't broke -- they district has a pile of money in > reserve accounts and has budgeted for extra teachers that were never > hired. Anyway, finding out about Kentucky's experience with multi-age > classes would be helpful. > > Thanks for all your help. > > Dianne Cassidy > Lake Oswego, OR > > > ===================================================================== > > EDUCATION CONSUMERS CLEARINGHOUSE > networking and information for parents and taxpayers on the internet > > Subscriptions & Archives: http://education-consumers.com or > > You are currently subscribed to education-consumers as: arthurhu@halcyon.com > TO UNSUBSCRIBE: Send a blank email to leave-education-consumers-989462S@lists.dundee.net > > ===================================================================== > > For less mail, click on the following link and choose > 1) a daily digest, > 2) a daily list of subjects, or > 3) no mail (read postings on Web) > > http://lists.dundee.net/scripts/lyris.pl?enter=education-consumers > > For more help & info: http://www.lyris.com/help or > Date sent: Fri, 2 Oct 1998 13:09:33 -0400 From: "Richard G. Innes" <70224.434@compuserve.com> Subject: [education-consumers] Re: Kentucky Experience W. Multi-Age Classrooms To: "ClearingHouse" Send reply to: "ClearingHouse" ===================================================================== Diane and ECC/Loop, Diane Cassidy wrote: <> In 1996, in response to major complaints from parents and educators, the Kentucky legislature considerably diminished the requirement for multi-age grouping in Kentucky. Essentially, while continuing the concept that we have no Kindergarten to 3rd. Grade in the state, the new legislation allowed the local schools great lattitude to decide how much actual multi-age grouping would be used. I am told that, in practice, most schools now pay little more than lip service to the concept, and fairly traditional by-age grouping has become the norm, but I don't know of any studies in the area. You can check with the Kentucky Legislative Research Commission to get the wording of the revised act. Phone 502-564-8100. It may also be up on the LRC's Web Site. A Web browser search for Kentucky Legislative Research Commission should get you there. <> One of the big arguments against our Multi-age experiment has been the phenominal increase in remediation for our 4th graders (discovered by me in 1995 -- never be it said parents cannot make an impact). At the time I first identified this trend, one out of four 4th graders needed tutorial/remedial help. By 1997, this proportion had risen to one out of two! I can provide you those remediation figures, including graphs, if you can read Microsoft Word 6.0 files. Let me know and I will E-Mail that to you. This is perhaps the most dramatic quantitative evidence to date that our multi-age experiment has not been a good idea. There is one other clue about our multi-age experiment. Our 4th grader performance dropped in state-to-state rankings on both NAEP reading and math tests from 1992 to 1996. Multi-age became mandatory state-wide in 1994. I can also send you a short Word report I completed on this, as well. Sadly, one of the more shocking things about the Kentucky education reform is that real, meaningful research has been in particularly short supply. That is especially true for the multi-age experiment. The available research is biased and highly annecdotal, in my opinion. None offers convincing evidence that this experiment has been beneficial to children. As mentioned above, things practically have returned to the traditional environment, but the reformists who still hold control of our Board of Education and our Department of Education will not admit to the situation. So, we have multi-age in name more than reality today, but it is difficult for people who are not close to the situation to determine that. Richard Innes ===================================================================== EDUCATION CONSUMERS CLEARINGHOUSE networking and information for parents and taxpayers on the internet Subscriptions & Archives: http://education-consumers.com or You are currently subscribed to education-consumers as: arthurhu@halcyon.com TO UNSUBSCRIBE: Send a blank email to leave-education-consumers-989462S@lists.dundee.net ===================================================================== For less mail, click on the following link and choose 1) a daily digest, 2) a daily list of subjects, or 3) no mail (read postings on Web) http://lists.dundee.net/scripts/lyris.pl?enter=education-consumers For more help & info: http://www.lyris.com/help or From David Brown's page: http://members.aol.com/davevote/page13.html Multi-Age Classrooms If your child is happy, and you feel that "being happy" is the most important goal for their schooling, there is no point in going further. If you are a parent who is concerned about the academic effects of multi-age and do not wish to read the complete text, please go directly to ; Multi-Age Questions Parents Should Ask Their School Multi-age is not a curriculum. It is a philosophy for how best to deliver curriculum having roots deep in progressive schools of education. It is based heavily on a psychological and sociological assumptions of how children develop and what are "appropriate" teaching strategies. Most teachers using multi-age will maintain that is is a wonderful teaching method. Some of the usual rationales are; Children get to be with a teacher for multiple years. This can be as much a negative as a positive. Teachers often make early assumptions about children's abilities which they then carry throughout the entire two to three year period. Students get to be leaders as they get in the higher grades. I would argue that life provides most students multiple avenues and opportunities for leadership. This is a weak rationale for any academic program to offer. Students can learn at a pace that is comfortable for them. For most students, no learning pace is comfortable. This allows subjective evaluations by the teacher to determine the learning pace of a student. The path of least resistance and lowered expectations is often taken resulting in reduced learning and skills. Students feel more positive about school and thus will perform better. This statement assumes that there is something in the traditional classroom that is negative and can be alleviated in a multi-age classroom. It also makes unsubstantiated claims and projections about a students future psychological state. This is junk science at its best. Parents should be wary of any arguments that stem from this type of psycho-babble. One Rochester elementary school gave an inquiring parent "research" on multi-age which said the following; "The studies also showed that boys, blacks, underachievers, and students from lower socioeconomic status were more likely to perform better and feel more positive about themselves and their schools in a non-graded environment.". Contrast the above quote made by a consulting firm pushing Multi-age to this one from E.D. Hirsch, founder of the curriculum known as the Core Knowledge Sequence and author of The Schools We Need; "The most troublesome feature of the multi-age classroom is the disproportionate number of older students in each learning group who come from disadvantaged homes and who belong disproportionately to ethnic minorities". Putting racial and economic issues aside, this says that multi-age classrooms have difficulty meeting the needs of students who do not meet the single profile of being highly motivated and self directed with a great deal of resources outside of the school. Multi-age classrooms are typically non-graded and make extensive use of integrated curriculum, group projects, portfolio assessments, cooperative learning, and thematic units. All of these concepts are major tenants of Outcome Based Education (OBE). These approaches provide an amorphous approach to curriculum which often results in fragmented and ill planned lessons. It also makes it virtually impossible to clearly measure student progress or for parents to know what is going on during the school day. You will often hear multi-age teachers make reference to Montessori schools giving the impression that their program is similar. It is not. Montessori teachers must be formally certified in the Montessori methodologies. Montessori classrooms are specially equipped with teaching resources that are required for the Montessori methodology. Montessori classes have a specific physical layout that is pre-designed to facilitate Montessori methodology. Almost any Montessori student is capable of escorting their parent or other adult through the various learning stations in their class Next Page ===> rooms explaining exactly how they work and what they are doing. It is very impressive. Contrast the Montessori program with multi-age classrooms in the Rochester public schools. First of all, there is no formal certification or required training for multi-age teachers. In Rochester, schools simply converted to this method with no real preparation other than a superficial philosophy about multi-age concepts. Unlike the formal training required by Montessori teachers, anyone can say they are teaching multi-age. Teachers were allowed to switch to multi-age if they desired regardless of their prior experience. In the case of Elton Hills Elementary, the entire school was allowed to switch to multi-age with no formal proposal process or planned evaluations of its effectiveness. Multi-age classrooms have no required or specific layout or resources that are part of a designed methodology. In fact, there is no specific multi-age methodology either in administering the curriculum, assessing the results, or guaranteeing that students in the older grades are not simply doing the work of their younger classmates. There is no methodology standardization, specialized curriculum, or formal monitoring to aid a multi-age teacher. It is interesting to note that delivery methods have caused the most debate over the last ten years. One would think that because delivery methods are so key for focused academic achievement, the district should have required any multi-age program to go through the same formal program proposal process that they require of other choice schools. This formal program process, when used, insures that a program is sea worthy before implementation is allowed. Implementation of Multi-age was allowed to skip this program safety review process. One of the issues which has arisen in the Rochester school district is a concern that multi-age is not serving the academic needs of students. This was brought up during a presentation by the district appointed Choice Committee during their presentation in July 1998. My guess is that a real evaluation of multiage will not be done to preserve the egos of those who have promoted and supported it. In my opinion, Multi-aging is generally not a sound philosophy. It requires an extreme amount of planning, organization, record keeping and an exceptional skill level from the teacher. Teachers may like it for a number of personal reasons none of which may have anything to do with whether it is academically best for your child. or other students. Personal teaching preferences should be substituted for valid research and program effectiveness. I would contend that all benefits claimed in a multi-age class are already occurring in a traditional classroom. A traditional classroom with a structured curriculum and a real grading system produces more focused and effective learning and provide better accountability for a public school environment. Having students grouped by grade allows the teacher to have a tighter cluster of abilities and can more easily give assistance and enrichments as opposed to having many ages and many ability levels. The non-graded, non-competitive aspect of multi-age classrooms is another detrimental philosophy of the program. Competition of any sort is considered counterproductive by multi-age philosophy. Proponents hold that competition causes stress and is basically unnecessary for achievement. Building students that do not want to or even know how to compete is more a bonus for those who do not want to be measured. If grade school competition is causing undue stress, the student has little hope of managing real life. Teaching competition in a classroom environment controlled by a thoughtful teacher is essential for building a mentally and emotionally sturdy adult. Promoters of multi-age talk about abstract skills and qualities such as creativity, self esteem, leadership, and high order thinking. Get below this surface conversation and ask some more direct and meaningful questions. Once behind, your child may not be able to regain years of lost learning they might have avoided in a more structured program. See Multi-Age Questions Parents Should Ask Their School Multi-Age Questions Parents Should Ask Their Schools Before you start asking questions, assume that the school and teacher will be helpful and professional. Be firm in requiring solid answers to your questions. I would advise parents to gather as much take home material as possible so you and your spouse may sit down with other concerned parties and study the information. Afterwards, you may have more questions or you may be completely satisfied. Before setting up an appointment for your inquiries, write down the questions and give the teacher or principal a copy beforehand if possible. Some questions may require information gathering and will take a little time. A second appointment may be necessary. Remember, this is not a game of let's stump the teacher. It's a serious inquiry about your child's academic future and whether multi-age is right for your child. Multi Age Questions and Inquiries for Concerned Parents What are the individual learning needs of your child? Since multi-age is based heavily on the claim that it provides a personalized approach, ask to see what data (written not verbal) the teacher or school has collected about your child's personal learning style and needs. Ask your teacher if she/he is credentialled or specially certified to teach in a multi-age environment Ask to see the curriculum for the year in an outline format. If your teacher or school has been doing multi-age for at least a year, this information should be readily available. If it is not, question how a teacher with two or three grade levels can remain organized and keep your child on track without this most fundamental level of planning. Ask for the curriculum outline for the other grades in the multiage classroom so you can compare what your child is actually covering to what they should be covering at their specific grade level. Integrated curriculum is a featured buzzword in the multi-age world. Ask to view a robust sampling of integrated or thematic units that were done in the various disciplines such as science, social studies, etc. Integrated units of a professional caliber require a great deal of formal planning and documentation. Do not accept that there is no written outline for a major teaching effort such as an integrated unit. Ask about the methodology the teacher uses to assess how well your child is learning the material for his or her grade level. If you cannot get a clear picture of what your child has covered, you may be witnessing the huge learning gaps created in multi-age classrooms when teachers must whittle down the curriculum from multiple grade-levels to fit the entire class. Ask if your child is at their grade level in most areas. If they are not, you may be concerned that they are being advanced or held back without your knowledge. A third grader doing the work of a second grader in too many areas is not good a good sign. Is your child in one grade level but doing the work of the next grade level? If a second grader is doing the work of a third grader, this may make the parent feel proud. However, what fundamental concepts and base knowledge has your child missed by not doing the second grade work. Remember that knowledge builds on knowledge. When too many fundamentals are skipped, it can present problems in upper grades where prior exposure and knowledge becomes advantageous. Lags in learning later on may surface as a result. How much time is your child left to "learn alone" while the teacher must attend to the other age groups, other curriculums and provide individual help? If your child is not extremely self directed, they can suffer boredom or suddenly become discipline problems. Kids need direction. They are social creatures and enjoy working as a class with whole group instruction. If you are not happy with the answers you receive, do not be upset with your teacher. The school board and the system is at fault, not the worker. Speak with a school board member and the superintendent . These are the folks responsible for implementation and quality control. In the event I lose the election, I will not lose interest in these issues. You can speak with me by mail or phone both during and after the election. Date sent: Sun, 04 Oct 1998 13:22:27 -0400 To: "ClearingHouse" From: "George K. Cunningham" Subject: [education-consumers] Re: Kentucky Experience W. Multi-Age Classrooms Send reply to: "ClearingHouse" ===================================================================== The first thing to keep in mind regarding Kentucky's experience with multi-age classroom is that it was not really intended to improve student learning as much as prevent students from failing first grade. Kentucky like lots of states had a fairly high failure rate for students in the primary grades. If there are no primary grades there is nothing for students to fail. That was a major impetus. In addition when the Kentucky Education Reform act was passed, every new age, 60s type of innovation was directly or indirectly included. Non-graded primary (its name here) is viewed as a way of not putting pressure on students and allowing older students to teach the younger. Robert Slavin is one of the foremost educational psychologists in the nation. He is recognized as a strong critic of grouping and an advocate of innovative teaching methods, having strongly advocated cooperative learning in one of his recent publications. In a review of the literature on non-graded elementary schools, co-authored with Roberto Guitierrez (1992), he found that achievement in some non-graded classes increased while in others there was no improvement. This inconsistency was explained by pointing out that the successful programs coupled direct instruction with effective methods of cross age grouping. Those that were unsuccessful used various forms of individualized instruction rather than directinstruction. The review asserts that, Individualized instruction, learning stations, learning activity packets, and other individualized or small group activities reduce direct instruction time with little corresponding increase in appropriateness of instruction to individualneeds (p. 369). It further states that, to the degree that nongraded elementary schools came to resemble the open school, the research finding few achievement benefits to this approach takes on increased importance (p. 368). The literature that compares the effectiveness of different approaches to instruction consistently favors direct instruction methods over progressive education approaches. After the un-graded primary was mandated, the Kentucky Department of Education published documents that defined what they called best practices for the ungraded primary. What they listed as best practices were exactly those methods that Slavin found ineffective and proudly proclaimed the end of what Slavin said were effective practices. The original law mandated strict adherence to non-graded classrooms, but the legislature made it more flexible. Across the state there has been some backing away from it. In the school district my children attended or attend it is very much alive. There is no first, second, or third grades, only primary. Students stay together through these grades until they move on to fourth grade. As a third of the class moves to fourth grade another third is added to first grade level. Originally, kindergarten was supposed to be part of the mix. The advocates of this backed down in the face of enormous resistance. Instructionally, it is totally ineffective. In my son's school they used to have a wonderful, award winning Spanish immersion program. Students were taught some of the day by native Spanish speaking teachers and by third grade had learned quite a bit of Spanish. Ungraded primary spelled the end of that, because the different age kids were so different that there was no appropriate level of Spanish to present in class. The ungraded program in my son's school prided itself on teaching no phonics, spelling, math facts or grammar. My son was in the program for two years. I can honestly say he learned nothing in those two years. Luckily he was a good reader coming out of Kindergarten. He has never really overcome the bad start in math. At 04:07 PM 10/2/99 -0400, you wrote: >===================================================================== > > >Teachers from the Mechanicsburg School District in Pennsylvania were sent >to Kentucky to inservice in multi-age classrooms last summer. I do not >remember what area of Kentucky they were sent to, but I remember reading >it in our newspaper. > >Gloria Hoffman > > >===================================================================== > > EDUCATION CONSUMERS CLEARINGHOUSE > networking and information for parents and taxpayers on the internet > >Subscriptions & Archives: http://education-consumers.com or > > >You are currently subscribed to education-consumers as: > gkcunn01@ulkyvm.louisville.edu >TO UNSUBSCRIBE: Send a blank email to > leave-education-consumers-989462S@lists.dundee.net > >===================================================================== > >For less mail, click on the following link and choose >1) a daily digest, >2) a daily list of subjects, or >3) no mail (read postings on Web) > >http://lists.dundee.net/scripts/lyris.pl?enter=education-consumers > >For more help & info: http://www.lyris.com/help or > > ===================================================================== EDUCATION CONSUMERS CLEARINGHOUSE networking and information for parents and taxpayers on the internet Subscriptions & Archives: http://education-consumers.com or You are currently subscribed to education-consumers as: arthurhu@halcyon.com TO UNSUBSCRIBE: Send a blank email to leave-education-consumers-989462S@lists.dundee.net ===================================================================== For less mail, click on the following link and choose 1) a daily digest, 2) a daily list of subjects, or 3) no mail (read postings on Web) http://lists.dundee.net/scripts/lyris.pl?enter=education-consumers For more help & info: http://www.lyris.com/help or Date sent: Sun, 04 Oct 1998 19:10:15 +0000 To: jimmyk5@swbell.net From: "Richard G. Innes" <70224.434@compuserve.com> (by way of Jimmy Kilpatrick ) Subject: [education-consumers] Re: Kentucky Experience W. Multi-Age Clas ===================================================================== Here are some added observations on Dr. Cunningham's excellent post: <> However, ECC/Loopsters should know that we in Kentucky have been regularly told that the whole purpose of the reform is to improve student learning. In fact, I believe Dr. Robert Sexton, of the Kentucky Prichard Committee, said exactly that in a recent KY Educational Television show that he participated in with Dr. Cunningham. Even the moderator was a bit incredulous that Dr. Sexton thought that was the only purpose of the reform effort. <> As I mentioned in this forum a few days ago, remediation rates for the graduates of Kentucky's Ungraded Primary (another term in use in this state for K to 3rd grade non-graded classrooms) has absolutely been skyrocketing. As of the 1996-97 school year, nearly one of two Kentucky 4th grade students needed remedial help. That might not be inconsistent with Slavin's findings, however, as there was tremendous pressure placed on elementary teachers to diminish time spent on direct instruction. Unfortunately, because ungraded classrooms were mandated state-wide by the 1993-94 school year, we have no control groups in this state that would allow more detailed research. As I have said in the past, the lack of decent research is one of the more scandalous parts of the Kentucky reform. <> As I mentioned above. <> Several comments here. A well-placed source indicates that most Kentucky schools today largely pay lip service to the multi-age concept. The law still prohibits setting up the old Kindergarten to 3rd. Grade divisions, but the schools used the provisions in the 1996 law revision to essentially do this, anyway. Sharp ECC/Loopsters will wonder: if kids are proceeding at their own rates through the ungraded primary, how can they all emerge at the same time, ready for 4th grade? The amazing answer to that is that no-one really knows what is happening, because the KY Department of Education actually lost control of demographics for the ungraded primary years. We currently don't have a clue about how many kids are not progressing on to 4th grade with their age peer group! Of course, the proponents of ungraded primary probably want this confusion. As I said, the research is abysmal. Richard Innes ===================================================================== EDUCATION CONSUMERS CLEARINGHOUSE networking and information for parents and taxpayers on the internet Subscriptions & Archives: http://education-consumers.com or You are currently subscribed to education-consumers as: jimmyk5@swbell.net TO UNSUBSCRIBE: Send a blank email to leave-education-consumers-989536G@lists.dundee.net ===================================================================== For less mail, click on the following link and choose 1) a daily digest, 2) a daily list of subjects, or 3) no mail (read postings on Web) http://lists.dundee.net/scripts/lyris.pl?enter=education-consumers For more help & info: http://www.lyris.com/help or ============================================= Material forwarded by: Jimmy Kilpatrick http://www.readbygrade3.com http://www.k-12science.org ============================================= For a free daily up-date of education news, research articles and commentaries published in major newspapers, magazines and journals, please forward email address to Jimmy Kilpatrick jimmyk5@swbell.net