C. Ian McLaren News: Multi-age Classes

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McLaren School is rethinking how we structure our classrooms. It seems that in the last few years, we have too many students for one grade and not enough for two. Because we seem to be on this trend of double grade classes, we are thinking about how to approach this dilemma in a thoughtful proactive way rather than a reactive way.
In education, we use  terms such as multi-age, multi-grade (split) or combination classes. Although they all mean two grades in a class, it is the how and why of each that is different. Multi-grades or splits means two grades together with each grade being taught separately.
Multi-age is different. This approach is different than split because it is intentionally planned that students will be in a two grade classroom and will remain in that classroom for two years with the same teacher. Only part of the class would be new each year. This would allow the teacher two years to work with students and spread the content over the two years, rather than trying to compress two curriculums into one year. The class is one learning community that is taught together. The only time there is a distinction between the two grades is for the purposes of assessment, evaluation and reporting.
The benefits of a multi-age class are many. The first is that the teacher gets to know the students and families better over the two years. The sense of community and diversity is enhanced among the students. Independent learning skills are promoted. Students become more self reliant. Teachers' planning reflects greater curriculum scope and integration. Teachers create work that will meet greater expectations for both grades. There is opportunity to reinforce the previous year's learning for the upper grade. The lower grade students rise to meet higher challenges. There are increased opportunities for the older grade in the area of student leadership.
How would this work if we had a two/three class? There would be several things that would be done differently than we have currently done in a “split”. The curriculum would become broader. For example in Language Arts, all students would be learning and taught skills to develop their non-fiction writing but the expectations of work would be different for each of the two grades. The same would apply to math. All would be learning addition or subtraction problem solving but the kinds of work assigned would differ in their levels of difficulty. For social studies and science, it may look a little different as we would mix up the units of both grades. While they are in grade two, they may do some grade three content and while they are in grade three, they may do grade two content but by the end of the two years, students would have been taught all the grade two and three content required by the Alberta government curriculum. When the grade threes move on to grade four with a new teacher, the grade twos would stay with the same teacher for grade three and then grade one students who are moving on to grade two would become a part of that class. The following year, they would move up to grade three with that same teacher and a new group of grade twos would join that class.
Naysayers may say that children will have a lesser experience in a multi-age class than a straight grade. However the research indicates that high quality teaching and leadership by the classroom teacher are the key factors in improved achievement. Being in a combined grade does not negatively affect student performance. Combined classes allow more leeway for children's naturally uneven academic, social and emotional development. Students in combined classes also have a more positive view of themselves as learners.
The concept of combined classes is not a new one. From one room school houses to the present day, combined classes have always been a part of schools. Our mission is to do this in a way that is thoughtful about the way we help our students to learn and interact with each other. We welcome feedback and questions from our parent community. Please contact Mrs. Jones or Mrs. Forchuk if you have questions or would like to discuss this in more detail.