Overview of Multiage Instruction
Multiage instruction is the organization of students and classrooms by ages rather than grades. Typically, multiage classrooms have two age groups (or grade levels), although some schools choose to have larger combinations. Multiage classrooms are not “combination classes,” where the design of the instruction is that the curricula of two different grade levels are taught within the same classroom.
In a multiage class, instruction is typically organized around a social studies or science theme. All other subjects are taught within the context of that theme. For instance, if California History were the theme, all students, regardless of age or grade, would learn about California History. The literature the teacher selects, the science experiments the teacher conducts, the writing assignments in all forms, the dramatizations the children perform, the art and art history, and even the math are all organized around California History.
Within the theme, each student is given individual learning goals. Low-stress assessments are given four times each year (every twelve weeks) to identify and celebrate the concepts and skills students have mastered, and to identify their learning goals within the instructional theme for the next twelve weeks. Students receive targeted direct instruction within a small group of students who have the same performance levels and learning goals, while also working on projects with students of different performance levels and learning goals. The blend of the two increases the ease with which students are able to learn new material, and maximize their strengths because each student brings a valuable skill or perspective to their mixed-performance group. Our group projects are multi-sensory and highly interactive learning experiences to increase comprehension and long-term memory storage exponentially. We believe that each student has skills and perspectives that contribute to the learning of the entire group, so we call these unique contributions from each student “super-powers.”
A Courtyard Educational Experience
Our foundational principle is constructivist learning theory. In its essence, Constructivism is creating opportunities for students to learn new information, skills, and concepts within highly contextualized multi-sensory activities. Learning experiences with these characteristics help learners to effectively file information so that it is easily retrievable at a future time when they need that information to learn more information, skills, and concepts. There are two essential elements for this deep learning to occur. The first is to help the student be in a social-emotional state of mind for maximum absorption of learning from educational activities. The second element is providing them with learning activities that research demonstrates ignites their interest in learning and provides enough direct instruction for them to master basic skills and the understanding of large concepts.
Before formal education can be effective for long-term memory, students must have certain basic needs met. They must be free of physical discomfort, they must feel socially safe, and they must feel that they are valued by other learners and the adults that support them at school. According to repeated research findings, multiage classes facilitate this aspect of the learning experience more effectively than straight grade level classrooms. In fact, the research demonstrates that students promoting from multiage programs demonstrate the characteristics of empathy, patience, cooperation, healthy self-image and other emotional intelligence indicators. Also, multiage students have more practice in developing the soft skills necessary for successful high school, college and professional careers, such as time-management, self-initiating a task, resourcefulness, and metacognition.
Our teachers create an instructional environment that is highly-engaging, and balanced between project-based learning and targeted direct instruction. Using science and social studies themes, students are involved in group, partner and individual projects as appropriate for their age. The projects have components in multiple curricular areas, including math, language arts, science, social studies, art/ graphic representation, public speaking, interaction with an expert in the field, and field trips. Project-based learning is multi-sensory and students engage more willingly because of the movement, large amounts of student-to-student interaction, and the valuing of student-voice in their own learning process.
There are some learning goals that are best delivered through targeted direct instruction. Students, just as adults, can only be attentive for a certain length of time in this passive learning experience. Therefore, Courtyard teachers keep direct instruction to about 30% of the learning week. It is provided to students through blended model of small group instruction and computer-assisted learning when the graphics interface of a computer program can provide a greater multi-sensory experience than the teacher.
In Courtyard multiage classrooms, our teachers manage different expectations for students based on their developmental and performance levels, rather than their grade levels.
Our small group instruction for math, reading and writing are strategic for each child. We assess students every 12 weeks to determine what skills they have mastered, and the skills they need to learn next. Students are in small groups of learners for 12 weeks with other students that have the same learning goals. From this structure, we prevent students from being bored, waiting for other children to “catch-up”, or feeling anxious because the lesson is moving too fast, which results in low absorption of learning.
We call this small group instruction L+1 (a derivative of Dr. Krashen’s “i+1” research), which describes that each day students receive instruction at their level plus one step beyond their level, which they could not reach without the assistance of a Courtyard teacher. Critical here is that we do not expect children to be taught at L+5, for instance, because the stress that places on a child reduces their ability to place learning in their long-term memory. Students make their maximum progress inside their Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), so there are high expectations without student stress. We like to say that “learning within the ZPD is learning with ease, but not easy learning.”
By having students taught at their individual L+1 everyday, they make their maximum progress over the course of a school year, and Courtyard career. Ultimately, all of our children outpace the learning they would experience in an educational program that is more “compliance” education, where the annual learning goal is the higher score on the state test, rather than the long-term memory development and proficiency with the concepts and skills they have mastered. Interestingly enough, by anecdotal evidence from our alumni, our children perform better than the majority of students entering high school who have practiced short-term memorization for the purpose of passing tests.
There are some learning goals that are best delivered through targeted direct instruction. Students, just as adults, can only be attentive for a certain length of time in this passive learning experience. Therefore, Courtyard teachers keep direct instruction to about 30% of the learning week. It is provided to students through blended model of small group instruction and computer-assisted learning when the graphics interface of a computer program can provide a greater multi-sensory experience than the teacher.