4 ms·

I went to an elementary school in the U.S. where you were not grouped by age. It was a pilot program, and I can't find a reference to the program being in place

by caw 14y ago

I went to an elementary school in the U.S. where you were not grouped by age. It was a pilot program, and I can't find a reference to the program being in place almost 20 years later. The program at the school had 1 large building, which was divided into 4 classroom with some common space in between. For each class period, you went to the class taught at your level. So you could go to the 1st grade math, or you could go to the kindergarten math. I lived there for 2 years, and basically took 1st grade as kindergarten aged, and 2nd grade as 1st grade aged. The worst part was moving, and having to "re-integrate" with the system. I had to take the age appropriate 2nd grade. My parents wanted me to skip directly to 3rd grade, but the school rejected that.

ef4 14y ago
What's funny is that you hardly have to "pilot" this model, because it used to be the norm all across America (the one-room school house). The evidence is compelling that it works great, and it costs less too. Which of course is why it's a political non-starter. The bureaucratic imperative is bigger budgets and centralization.
jmj42 14y ago
We had a small private k-8 school in my home town that employed this same model (White Oaks School Monticello, IL). I considered sending both of my children. Sadly, tuition was a little out of reach for us. The school is closed now (they only lasted about 10 years). In addition to the one-room style of education, they had older students mentor younger one, an instruction model that enabled students to learn at mixed pace (accelerated for subjects the student was "good" at, slower for those they were't), music education that included learning to play an instrument at the kindergarden level, and foreign language at the 1st grade level (language choices included: french, spanish, russian, cantonese and many others) Edit: Specifically, the school employed the Reggio Emilia approach (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reggio_Emilia_approach http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reggio_Emilia_approach)

by caw 14y ago

ef4 14y ago

What's funny is that you hardly have to "pilot" this model, because it used to be the norm all across America (the one-room school house). The evidence is compelling that it works great, and it costs less too. Which of course is why it's a political non-starter. The bureaucratic imperative is bigger budgets and centralization.

jmj42 14y ago

We had a small private k-8 school in my home town that employed this same model (White Oaks School Monticello, IL). I considered sending both of my children. Sadly, tuition was a little out of reach for us. The school is closed now (they only lasted about 10 years). In addition to the one-room style of education, they had older students mentor younger one, an instruction model that enabled students to learn at mixed pace (accelerated for subjects the student was "good" at, slower for those they were't), music education that included learning to play an instrument at the kindergarden level, and foreign language at the 1st grade level (language choices included: french, spanish, russian, cantonese and many others) Edit: Specifically, the school employed the Reggio Emilia approach (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reggio_Emilia_approach http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reggio_Emilia_approach)