A rural Washington community looks to multiage classrooms as a foundation for continuous learning
By MARDI BERKHOUSE JONES
It's 7:55 on a Monday morning in Concrete, Washington, and for the next 10 minutes, organized chaos reigns as hefty yellow school buses lumber to the curb, huff to a halt, and unload their young cargo. Brightly clad children, hugging notebooks and backpacks, scamper in a hundred different directions, a scene that repeats itself daily in schoolyards across the country.
But at Concrete Elementary School, high in the Cascade Mountains of Northern Washington, children are scurrying to a different kind of classroom. Here, family groups replace the traditional, single-grade, age-specific classroom. Instead of plodding through a rigid, chronological program, students work at levels that match their abilities. They progress through a curriculum that keeps pace with their capabilities, and learn together over a span of age and grade levels.
"This is a kid-driven program," explains Concrete Principal Loren Fitting. "With our present continuous-progress format, we honestly look at the needs of each student. Our curriculum is in the student that walks through the door—it is not driven by a set of contrived expectations."
In this small community, where children are as familiar with bald eagles soaring over the snow-capped alps as they are with the salmon that flash through the emerald-green Skagit River, change does not come easy. In the late 1980s, the area's timber-based economy was reeling from severe cutbacks. Families found themselves scrambling to find new ways to survive in an unfamiliar economy.
But on the cusp of a new century, and with a dramatically different world only a heartbeat away, staff also believed that change was necessary.
Now, six years later, Concrete children eagerly slip into seats at family-group tables. They work in teams to build toothpick bridges or to add the final touches to a class newspaper. Teachers structure and adjust the curriculum to allow children to progress at a rate compatible with their abilities. By grouping children this way, it is possible for teachers to use strategies that will be more responsive to the individual needs of children. The basic goal of Concrete Elementary School's Continuous Progress Program is to nurture the diversity and growth of children's knowledge by removing artificial barriers.
Students learn not by lecture and rote, but through their own active involvement and participation in the education process. In short, they learn by doing, and they love it.
It shows in the enthusiasm of children in Deborah Riehl's first- and second-grade family group as they map a plan for cooperative-learning projects. Students have designated project-group names and created hand signals to indicate when a classmate gets stuck.
"One finger means help," explains Brice, a seven-year-old senior member of the class. "If someone needs help—like they crash into a word that they don't understand—then they raise one finger and I help them sound out the word. It's fun when I can help the little kids."
Team projects include publishing books, producing plays, and creating theme posters. The process fits well into Concrete's Continuous Progress Program, which focuses on kids learning together cooperatively.
In 1989, Concrete Elementary teachers, supported by a grant from the Washington Department of Education's Schools for the 21st Century program, began forging a program that would meet the needs of all students while allowing them to proceed at their own rates. Concrete staff invited community members to get involved by serving on several committees that reviewed effective-schools research and discussed school improvement in Concrete. Teachers and parents fanned out across Washington and British Columbia to observe existing programs and visit other schools that employed multiage strategies. While they did not find a template for change, the parents and teachers did gain enough information to develop a greater understanding of the nongraded format. From these site visits and research, a contin uous- progress blueprint began to emerge at Concrete.
For staff at Concrete Elementary, change meant taking chances. Revamping the entire educational structure that had been in place for years was risky. Initially, 12 teachers mapped out a plan and began laying a foundation of teamwork and trust. Their recommendations were based on the comfort level of individual teachers as well as meeting student needs and providing varied educational settings. Based on those considerations, teachers decided on three basic strategies that would drive their school improvement efforts: multiage classrooms, team teaching, and cooperative learning.
"First and foremost, multiage is the vehicle we use to achieve our continuous-progress goals," explains Fitting. "This concept has many facets, but it is based on the idea that a child will be with one teacher for more than one year. This type of grouping allows flexibility in the placing of older children according to need, ability, or interest—not just by age or grade-level restrictions."
Children at Concrete progress at their own rates in family groups that may contain one, two, or three grade levels. Classrooms are built around learning structures that support each child as she strives to acquire and apply new skills and knowledge. At the beginning of the year, students begin at a variety of learning levels.
"Our continuous-progress vision does not contain the student to any grade-level barrier," says Fitting. "The children proceed wherever they are on their educational journeys. This is truly an individual approach to learning."
Another advantage of the multi age format is the role-modeling aspect. Students pair up in class or work in small, cooperative groups. Older kids know the ropes and can serve as a support system to new students. Older kids also work as mentors in helping skill development. Fitting sees social as well as academic benefits. "From a social perspective," he says, "friends are not restricted to one grade level. Suddenly, friends come in all ages and abilities."
Teachers at Concrete Elementary use a variety of instructional strategies including cooperative learning, team teaching, and cross-age tutoring. The curriculum offers practical, hands-on experiences in all academic areas. Major instructional units are designed around thematic concepts. Subject areas are integrated to provide meaningful learning activities for the children. Many classes use activity centers that address the various ways individual students learn.
"We look at education through very contemporary eyes," says Fitting. "For example, we use a project-oriented curriculum. Students are able to speak, write well, work well in cooperative learning settings, and experience the positive rewards of successfully completing projects individually and in groups. This creates an academically well-rounded child."
Student assessment is visible and ongoing. Portfolios travel with the student, so each teacher knows the progress being made. This assessment process emphasizes the teacher's responsibility to share and interpret information for the child and the parents. Accountability is high and individualized.
Fitting says the multiage philosophy is also a good vehicle for staff development. "The concept lends itself to growth and vision, and creates—in the long run—a self-renewing school," he says.
"We are always reinventing ourselves," Fitting adds. "Therefore, we cannot become stagnant. Multiage keeps us constantly planning for the future."
Staff members meet weekly to fine-tune program concepts or address unexpected issues that arise. Retreats, informal get-togethers, and brainstorming all contribute to the successful delivery of the program. Planning times are scheduled with teachers from other family groups to ensure peer interaction.
There were a few bumps in the road while Concrete paved the way to its school improvement effort. Some parents were uneasy with multiage classrooms, and some teachers became advocates for one program over another.
Clear communication between the school and the community is extremely important, notes Fitting. Throughout the planning process, the school board, administrators, and teachers invited and encouraged community involvement. The open process helped to shape the program and provide options for parents. For example, while the original design called for all multiage classes in the school, some parents wanted a traditional classroom. As a result, school staff decided to offer a traditional class at each grade level. Parents are now asked their preferences at the end of each school year and given the choice of a multiage or traditional class for their children. Currently, about 66 percent of the students are in multiage classes.
"We need to realize the differences in each classroom setting," says teacher Ruth Ann Brokke. "We need to recognize different teaching styles and celebrate the varied teaching philosophies. We all have so much to contribute. Communication with teachers and the community is so vital. We must always keep those lines open to be successful."
Fitting and his staff have also integrated a "step-up" program that has eased student transitions. One day each spring, students moving on to a new family group go to their new rooms to meet the teachers and familiarize themselves with the new classes.
The biggest changes over the past six years have taken place at the kindergarten and sixth-grade levels. "These areas did not carry through in the original continuous-progress model," Fitting says. "This year we have introduced a
K-1 class and a five-six family group. We felt this was necessary. The K-1 configuration brings children into the program early on. And from an educational point of view, it makes sense—kindergartners can use first-graders as role models. They see their mentors making the jump to literacy."
The other major change in the original concept was to use "looping" at the first- and second-grade levels. Looping involves two teachers working together while maintaining separate classrooms. At Concrete, Hallie Elms and Marilyn Lane teach first and second grade. Year one finds Elms teaching all first-graders and Lane all second-graders. In year two, Elms continues with her class, now second-graders. Lane's second-graders move on to other classrooms, and she takes on a new group of first-graders who she will teach for two years.
By looping, Lane and Elms teach one grade level and still offer the students a blend that touches on the multiage concept through cooperative planning. Lane and Elms also join their classes for some small- and large-group activities. This gives the children the opportunity to work on cooperative skills and mentoring.
Experts point to many advantages to teaching a group of students for more than one year. Dr. Glenellen Pace, an educational researcher and associate professor of language and literacy at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, cites several benefits, including:
Years of planning and study went into Concrete's design, and school personnel are careful to keep the program fluid and dynamic to meet the needs of students, teachers, and parents.
Teachers, administrators, parents, students, and others in the community feel they have benefited from the program. A community survey this year indicated widespread acceptance and support. "The community indicated to us that they like the concept of the diversity of classroom configurations being offered," notes Superintendent Gil Johnson.
Since Concrete's Continuous Progress Program was implemented, average daily attendance has increased from 89 percent to 93 percent, and retention has dropped dramatically. In the past three years, only two students have been retained at Concrete Elementary. The figure compares to about 15 to 20 children retained prior to the program.
Concrete Elementary has been named a School for the 21st Century by the Washington Office of State Superintendent of Public Instruction. In addition, the school was chosen as a State Mentoring School, and was awarded the 1993 Golden Apple for excellence in education in Washington.
Building a successful multiage Continuous Progress Program is hard work that requires thoughtful deliberation and involvement of teachers, parents, and others in the community. "You don't get up one morning and say, 'Gee, let's change our school's entire format and go multiage,'" Fitting says. "The time you put in will determine the success or failure of your program. Put the time in, and you will be satisfied and your students will flourish."
Resource notes: For more information contact Principal Loren Fitting at Concrete Elementary School, Superior Avenue, Concrete, Washington 98237, (360) 853-8145. For a fuller discussion of Concrete Elementary School's multiage program, see Children at the Center by Dr. Bruce Miller, available from the ERIC Clearinghouse on Educational Management, University of Oregon, (800) 438-8841. For copies of Making Decisions About Grouping in Language Arts by Dr. Glenellen Pace, call Linda Revels at NWREL, (503) 275-9519.
Mardi Berkhouse Jones is a freelance writer, poet, and farmer living in Concrete, Washington.
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Date of Last Update: 9/28/01 
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