Reflections from Katie
February 2, 2012

Are multi-age classrooms a critical component of Cambridgeport’s approach to teaching and learning?

On January 23rd, families were invited to attend an open school council meeting to discuss the above question. For those who were not there, I wanted to share how it went, and what some of the major take-aways from the evening were.

About 30 parents and teachers were in attendance. The evening began with presentations from three teachers: Isabel Eccles, 5/6 teacher; Gizelle Lev, 3/4 teacher; and Lindsay Barton, 1/2 teacher. I have asked the teachers to summarize their comments in writing so that I can share them with the wider community. Following the presentation, everyone was split into 4 different groups to discuss their reactions to the teachers’ presentations and several other questions. People were asked to sit with new people each time a new question was posed so that a diversity of viewpoints could be heard and expressed. The different “rounds” of discussion were:

1. Reacting to the teachers’ presentations,
   
2. What are the benefits of multi-age classrooms, and
3. Responding to two specific proposals for change that involve looping.

Posted in the room was a list of “Tenets of Progressive Education.” ¹This list was present because while we are examining our multi-age structure, we maintain our commitment to these tenets.

In response to the teachers’ presentation, many parents expressed that they had not heard this perspective before. They had assumed that multi-age classrooms were working just fine, and didn’t realize the enormous pressure it was putting on teachers. One parent stated, “We all have an emotional attachment to multi-age classrooms, but the teachers presented concrete reasons why multi-age classrooms are challenging.”

Some parents were happy to hear that despite the challenges of multi-age teaching, the teachers were committed to aspects of progressive education such as project-based learning. Some felt that anything that allows teachers more flexibility and support for progressive, project-based approaches is a worthwhile investment. Some parents present were concerned that if we are no longer a school with multi-age classrooms that we don’t have anything that makes us stand out to families when they are choosing schools. They wondered, “If we don’t have multiage classrooms, then what makes us unique?”

Two proposals were put forth for discussion. In the first proposal, students would be in straight Kindergarten with a teacher for one year, then they would move into first grade and stay with that same teacher and class (looping) in second grade. The classes would then get mixed up for third grade, where students would loop with their class up to fourth grade. Finally, fifth grade would be in their class, with their teacher, for one year. In the second proposal, students would come into Kindergarten and then loop with that class and teacher to first grade. The classes would get mixed up for second grade, where students would loop with their class and teacher up to third grade. This process would be repeated for fourth to fifth. In the discussion of these two proposals, most people seemed to favor the first proposal. The strongest argument in favor of the first proposal was that when children come into Kindergarten, we make relatively random class assignments because we don’t know the children well. In the upper grades, a lot more thought and care goes into the placement process because we know the children as learners and as social beings. It would make sense to hold off on putting them into a class that they will be in for 2 years until we have gotten to know the child in their first year here. People also felt that it would make sense to have fifth grade separate as a way to set them up for success in their transition to the Upper School Campus.

In this discussion, the point was raised that there is a lot of change going on in the district right now. Some felt that it would make sense to make our own change at the same time. Others felt that it would be hard to manage change to our K-5 right at the same time as we are changing our middle school structure. The next steps in this process are: - February 27th School Council Meeting:

• I will present a proposal for moving forward. This will either be a recommendation to keep things the same, or a proposal for a change.
  
• We will be discuss implementation plans (in either case, implementation plan is needed. Even if we choose to keep things the same, we need to have a discussion about how to make this more manageable for teachers, and less disruptive to our goals of progressive, project-based learning).
  
• We will discuss the phasing in of any change that gets proposed.

I am eager to hear your thoughts about all of this in any format (email, phone, in person…).