1. Mixed Age Courses

2. What does “multi-grade level” mean?
Multi-grade level content? No.
Teachers are not teaching two grade levels with two separate curricula.
Mixed age content? Yes.
Teachers are teaching students of different ages in the same course with the same curriculum.

3. AISL MIXED AGED LEVEL COURSES
7-8 Language Acquisition
9-10 Language Acquisition
7-8 Design
9-10 Design (only two grade 9 students)
7-8 Arts
7-8 Music
9-10 Music

4. Advantages Increased student achievement, especially in language
Increased social and emotional growth, especially in social skills
Opportunity to make more friends
Working with students of same skill level
Breaks down the traditional factory model of schooling and creates a tailored program for students
Challenges students within their zone of proximal development (best teaching practices)

5. Disadvantages More challenging for some teachers
Some students may be uncomfortable at first

6. How do we address the disadvantages?
Administration conducting instructional coaching with teachers
Students practice proactive advocacy during Advisory.
Pedagogical leadership team regularly meets to reflect and review on school programming.
Open door policy

7. How can I be sure my child is challenged appropriately?
Student achievement is tracked, reviewed, and used for curricular planning
Teachers use differentiation strategies to meet the wide variety of needs within any classroom.
Grade level meetings, department meetings, student support services meetings, individual instructional coaching meetings…

8. Resources
The Advantages and Disadvantages of Multiage Classrooms in the Era of NCLB Accountability by the Center for Evaluation & Education Policy.
The Multi-Age Classroom: What Research Tells the Practitioner by Sandra Stone
Is Multi-Age Grouping Beneficial to Middle School Students? By the North Carolina Association for Middle Level Education
Effectiveness of Multi-Grade Classes: Cooperative Learning as a Key Element of Success, in the Journal for the World Academy for Science
A COMPARISON OF THE ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT OF STUDENTS IN MULTIGRADE ELEMENTARY CLASSROOMS AND STUDENTS IN SELF-CONTAINED SINGLE-GRADE ELEMENTARY CLASSROOMS, a doctoral dissertation from Stephen Theophil Pawluk