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The slowdown of the multiage classroom: what was once a popular approach has fallen victim to NCLB demands for grade-level testing
School Administrator, March, 2005 by Priscilla Pardini
Such an effort demands strong school leadership. "The principal makes or breaks the program," says Schatmeyer. Miller, author of Children at the Center: Implementing the Multiage Classroom, calls leadership, strong teacher commitment to the needs of children and support from parents and others the key "prerequisites for success" of any multiage program.
NCLB's Impact
Others see No Child Left Behind as largely responsible for the decline in multiage education. "It's been killed by President Bush and No Child Left Behind. The standards are too rigid." says Grant, whose proprietary firm runs training programs and publishes materials for multiage educators. "It used to be easy to put two grades together with the same teacher for two years. But very specific grade-level standards has made that difficult."
Grant, a presenter at previous AASA national conferences, contends teachers and school administrators are shying away from multiage programs because they feel compelled to "teach to the test," adding, it's "easy to understand and sympathize with teachers whose jobs are on the line because their test scores are going to be published." Superintendents, he says, "are in a terrible quandary between doing what's morally right and what their school boards and departments of education dictate."
Miller, who interviewed numerous educators for his guide to multiage education, agrees. "If you haven't met standards, do you take on [that task] in an innovative context? No, you probably use something more traditional until you get your feet on the ground."
NCLB imposes a rigidity that curtails the use of "more progressive curriculum reforms," says Vassar's Roellke. "When you start to have testing requirements placed at various age levels, it's much more difficult to provide flexibility when it comes to curriculum and [delivery] models. This is an example of how the law places constraints on and diminishes the opportunity for creativity at the local level."
Looking down the road, Stone, with the National Multiage Institute, predicts "unfortunate fallout" from NCLB's testing requirements. But meanwhile, she urges administrators whose schools offer multiage education to hold their ground. "Go with good practice," she says.
Holding Firm
More than six years after Kentucky relaxed its mandate on multiage education, about 85 percent of the primary grade classrooms in Jefferson County, Ky., remain ungraded. "We basically encouraged our teachers to stay with it because of the results we were getting," says Daeschner, superintendent of the 98,000-student district since 1993.
His advice to fellow superintendents interested in the practice: Make sure teachers moving into multiage classes are properly trained. "That's the caveat," he says. "If you are trained appropriately for a multiage classroom, there is an advantage for the kids. If not, they're better off in regular classes."
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