At Their Own Pace Multi-Age Learning Philosophy Harkens Back To Days Of One-Room Schoolhouses

Like a benevolent older brother, eight-year-old Taylor Couch helps Daniel Bolen through his reading lesson.

“I’m stuck,” said Daniel, a six-year-old first-grader, pointing to the word “kinds.”

“If you’re stuck, why don’t you go on?” suggested Taylor, a second-grader, before helping Daniel sound out the word.

In an increasing number of North Side classrooms, students are being asked to be educational and social big brothers to younger students. Those classrooms subscribe to the multi-age learning philosophy, which has its roots in the old, one-room schoolhouse.

“He sees it as his job to make sure Daniel can read,” Linwood Elementary teacher Helen Harding said of Taylor.

As in combination classes, students in different grades sit in adjacent desks. But in multi-age classes, independent learning is emphasized; when students have questions, they are encouraged to turn to one another for help.

“My job is really to stand back and watch and make sure they are on track,” said Mary Haymond, teacher of a first- and second-grade multi-age class at Willard Elementary in north central Spokane.

Like the old one-room schoolhouse, multi-age classes are structured to let students learn at their own pace. Students have the same teacher for two years, so teachers get to know well the learning methods of their students.

In a multi-age lesson, a teacher will give a single, basic lesson for the entire class, then send students to work independently.

Students with high aptitude can push themselves; one sixth-grader at Balboa Elementary, which is entirely multi-age, has specially ordered middle school and high school reading materials.

Most teachers say multi-age classrooms are not for everyone. Independent, self-motivated students do well, as do intelligent but reserved students. “The quiet ones have two years to open up,” said Haymond.

The classes may not be right for students who require a lot of guidance or attention. Some research suggests students with learning disabilities can more easily be left behind in a multi-age class.

“I treat the whole class as gifted and push them as far as they can go,” said Harding.

Multi-age teaching seems to be on the rise, both locally and nationally. Mead has started several multi-age classes. Several District 81 schools are entirely multi-age. At Linwood and Willard, where there are both multi-age and normal classes, there are waiting lists for multi-age classes.

Multi-age classes do not seem to make significant impacts on academics. Haymond, however, said last year was the first time in her 20 years of teaching that all students in class were reading at or above their grade level.

Teachers who have taught the system say they see large jumps in social skills. A 1990 study found the biggest benefits of the classes were in ways students interact with each other.

The classes also encourage parent involvement, partly because students keep the same teacher for two years. Both Harding and Haymond say they develop better friendships with parents in two years than they do in one.

Parent Ronda Dahl spends several hours a day in both the third- and fourth-grade multi-age class of her daughter Emily and in regular classrooms at Willard.

She thinks multi-age classes better reinforce lessons because older students are encouraged to help younger students.

“The older students are learning to teach things they already know,” said Dahl. “You know the old adage - if you want to learn something, teach it.”

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