Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 24, 1993 TAG: 9301240176
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: D3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: PURCELLVILLE LENGTH: Medium
MIXED-GRADE CLASSES PASSING MUSTER
A Loudoun County elementary school is trying to increase student achievement by combining pupils from different grades in the same classroom.An increasing number of educators across the country think such a setting helps students by allowing children to learn from their peers and at their own pace.
"It's a 180-degree turn from the old, `Take out your textbook and turn to page 59,' " said Mary LaCombe, one of four teachers and 75 students in Loudoun's pilot program at Emerick Elementary School. "I don't ever want to go back to the other way."
Such programs, which also are being used in Prince William, Arlington and several other school systems across the nation, seek many of the benefits of the old one-room schoolhouse: Older students learn by helping to teach younger ones, who are aided by being able to follow the example of older students.
The idea behind the programs, educators say, is that children learn at different rates and can lose interest in school if they are held back or labeled as failures at an early age.
Critics say the approach may limit older gifted students by not challenging them enough and overlook shy children who thrive in more organized class structures.
"I think the child overlooked in this process will be the gifted [ones]," said Elsie Jones, principal of Longfellow Primary Center in Mayfield, Ky. In Kentucky, 900 schools adopted the mixed-grade concept at the beginning of this school year.
But supporters say that mixing grades helps most children do better.
"We've removed the artificial, lock-step approach," Emerick Principal Jayne Meadows said. "I'm a firm believer that every child can learn. We don't all learn at the same rate."
In mixed-grade classes, a team of teachers usually focuses on thinking skills rather than memorization. Students are encouraged to help one another, and hands-on projects are favored over textbooks.
In Prince William, first- and second-grade classes are mixed at Sudley Elementary School, and another county school is expected to adopt the approach next year. In Arlington, more than 80 Randolph Elementary School students, from kindergarten through the fifth grade, are involved in a similar effort, called Kidsville.
"It's a hot trend, and a lot of school districts are experimenting with it," said Mary Ann Rafoth, an education researcher at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
Bright students can excel in virtually any subject by teaching it to younger classmates, supporters say. "You never really learn something as well as when you teach it," Rafoth said.