Peter E. Pflaum - Golden Globe - The Synergy Network http://www.wiredbrain.net/ Pflaump@wiredbrain.com Introduction The purpose of this paper is to report and summarize some literature currently available on multiage nongraded elementary school groupings. Intent is to give some historical perspective, to pull together some common threads running through writings on this topic, and to provide reference information. Most sources reviewed were located through LUIS, index to Florida state university libraries, and through ERIC searches using a variety of major and minor descriptors including: * multiage grouping; * cross-age teaching; * nongraded; * elementary school [minor descriptor]; * [but not] secondary education. Four separate searches with the same descriptors entered in same and in different orders did not yield exact listings. Future searches may, therefore, identify other relevant sources. ERIC documents (those with ED or D prefixes) were ordered directly. Most journal articles referenced in this report were found at the University of Central Florida (UCF) and Daytona Beach Community College libraries. An additional source is the UCF library ERIC microfiche collection. Perhaps literature on multiage nongraded approaches to educational organization can be better examined following a brief historical reminder. Historical Perspective Before the founding of public school systems, much formal American education took place in settings such as Dame schools, family-hired tutors, and one-room schools. Multiage grouping was inherent to these types of educational organization. Society, neighborhood, and family make-up typical of the times naturally involved children in multiage groups. Average American nineteenth century families were much larger than those of today. Infant mortality frequently caused wide differences in ages of siblings. Extended families often lived in the same neighborhoods or homes. Commonly, children on the farm worked cooperatively with adults and siblings (Pratt, 1983, p. 8). In the eighteenth century, foreshadowing of graded schools can be seen through establishment in Boston of separate reading and writing schools. Both boys and girls attended these schools but were segregated by gender (Goodlad & Anderson, 1987, p. 45). Another step toward modern educational organization can be seen through the monitorial system where a teacher taught older students who then tutored younger groups. Student "monitors" also were responsible for discipline, record keeping, examinations, and even promotion (Goodlad & Anderson, 1987, p. 45). After visiting Prussia in 1843 Horace Mann observed: The first element of superiority in a Prussian school . . . consists in the proper classification of the scholars. In all places where the numbers are sufficiently large to allow it, the children are divided according to ages and attainments, and a single teacher has the charge only of a single class. . . . There is no obstacle whatever . . . to the introduction at once of this mode of dividing and classifying scholars in all our large towns (Mann, 1843, p. 84, cited in Pratt, 1983, p. 9). In 1848, five years after Mann's report of the Prussian method of educational age grouping, Quincy Grammar School was established in Boston (Goodlad & Anderson, 1987, p. 44; Pratt, 1983, p. 9). This institution is widely considered the first graded school in the United States. Support for gradedness grew, becoming the "accepted wisdom" (Pratt, 1983, p. 9). During the nineteenth century, belief of education for all increased. There was pressure in the 1830's and 40's to enroll and socialize a giant influx of immigrant children (Radner, 1991, p. 261). Establishment of normal schools helped unify educational ideas and practices. Growth in school attendance rates, teacher training, and popularity of new textbooks enhanced favor of gradedness. Enthusiasm for The McGuffy Eclectic Readers (graded and illustrated) impacted on production of these texts as well as on production of numerous others. Motivated book salesmen seized opportunities to sell these materials to teachers who were often unskilled in determining book quality (Goodlad & Anderson, 1987, p. 47). The Lowell School Committee Report of 1852 compared logic of age grouping to logic of division of labor in industry: The principle of the division of labor holds good in schools, as in mechanical industry. One might as justly demand . . . all operations of carding, spinning and weaving be carried out in the same room, and by the same hands, as insist that children of different ages and attainments should go to the same school and be instructed by the same teacher (Lowell School Committee Report of 1852, cited in Pratt, 1983, p. 9). In 1837 Horace Mann became secretary of the state board of Massachusetts; in 1843 Henry Barnard was assigned a similar position in Connecticut. John Dewey sees these two events as marking the beginning of our American system of public schools. Between 1837 and 1850 grew up all the most characteristic features of the American public-school system: from this time date state normal schools, city training schools, county and state institutes, teachers' associations, teachers' journals, the institution of city superintendencies, supervisory officers, and the development of state universities as the crown of the public-school system of the commonwealth (Dewey, 1903, p. 228). Our modern classification system of elementary, secondary, and post- secondary divisions of educational levels was fairly well established by 1890. Age of entry to school was standardized through laws requiring school attendance (Pratt, 1983, p. 10). Schools became larger. Post World War I population movement toward urban areas away from rural communities, road improvement, and the idea of bigger is better, combined to dramatically eradicate small schools. Change in size and organization of American education is evidenced through rapid drop in one-teacher schools. In a 1928 Department of Interior, Department of Education bulletin, Covert notes, "One hundred years ago Horace Mann made a vigorous attack on one-room schools. Since then educators have continually bombarded them" (Covert, 1928, p. 1). The bulletin lists growing attitudes of the day: * one teacher's inability to cover all levels as well as in a graded system; * one-room teachers are often young and inadequately trained; * percentage of attendance in one-teacher schools is much less than in graded schools; * centralized schools offer advantages small isolated schools cannot, such as socialization and training for life (Covert, 1928, p. 1). In 1900 approximately 200,000 one-room schools existed in America. In 1917-18 there were still about 196,000 public one-room schools. Found in all 48 states, these schools made up 71% of all U.S. public schools but were attended by only 25% of school children. Number of one-room schools dropped precipitously: Year Number of One-room Schools 1900 200,000 1920 188,000 1930 149,000 1938 121,000 1948 75,000 1950 60,000 1980 (fewer than) 1,000 (Gulliford, 1981, & Swanson, 1976, & Lambert, 1960, cited in Barker, 1986; Gaumnitz & Blose, 1950, cited in ERIC Clearinghouse on Rural Education and Small Schools, 1987; Muse & Moore, 1988). Pointing to rapid increase in centralized schools (100 per year since 1900) and more rapid decrease in one-teacher schools (5 times that rate for the same period), Covert continues: There are few thoughtful people left who fail to see the many social and administrative advantages of the larger, better-equipped schools. [Factors causing growth in number of large schools include] great improvement in roads . . . ; the modern school bus, equipped with comfortable seats, heaters, windows, and front and rear doors (Covert, 1928, p. 2). About 30 years after Covert's bulletin, the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare reported "Small Schools Are Growing Larger" (Gaumnitz, 1959). This document concerns status and trends of size factors in public education. Problems with rural education frequently were attributed to smallness -- "small administrative districts, small school systems, small enrollments, small instructional staffs, and small classes" (Gaumnitz, 1959, p. iii). Several common threads run through literature of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Among them are energetic movement toward gradedness and consolidation. Another is interest in the child- centered approach to education, a progressive movement explored by Dewey, Kilpatrick, Rugg, and others. Through reviewing literature both past and contemporary, it is fascinating to observe the vast array of opinions about American schooling practices during a rapid and dramatic change from small individually run environments to larger, more sophisticated institutions. Evidently many early twentieth century small schools had enormous problems, including untrained teachers and poor physical conditions. Numerous anecdotal accounts exist, however, regarding popular small community schools closed against the wishes of the people they served. While Dewey, Kilpatrick, and Rugg are given credit for starting the American progressive movement in education, one wonders how many other teachers came to similar pedagogical conclusions through personal experiences, perhaps unknowingly practicing progressive education to logically address individual student needs. Marian Brooks, Professor Emeritus, City University, New York, ran her school with progressive ideals. As a young, briefly trained, one-room school teacher in 1920 rural New Hampshire, Ms. Brooks quietly rejected unrealistic mandates imposed by the system. Because of how her students learned, Ms. Brooks instituted an integrated, project- oriented curriculum in her multiage one-room school. Several years after leaving this rural post, Ms. Brooks was introduced to the works of Dewey, Kilpatrick, and Rugg. Later at Teachers College, she served as assistant to Professor Harold Rugg (Dropkin, 1975). With this historical overview in mind, it is time to look at research regarding multiage nongraded grouping in American education. See nongrd2 for part 2