Kathryn and Jazmine are in different grades, but they are in the same class in the Mexico school district's New Haven Elementary -- a multiage classroom called the Beehive. Full Story »
Posted by Kristin Gorski
Would have better been called an opinion piece or a human interest story, since it gives many of the opinions of those in the school with no backup from outside experts or from research. I would think that the Montessori schools would have enough research, since they commonly use multi-age classrooms and many keep good stats.
Both of my children started school in multi-age classrooms, in part because of my own positive experiences in early elementary school. Because of over-crowding during the peak of the baby boom, a small number of my age-mates and I were often placed with slightly older students. We were the ones at the top of our classes, and had work of our own, but received the stimulation of the teacher's work with older, theoretically more advanced students. It was great, but not as good as the experimental, post-Sputnik program that I joined in 5th grade.