Grade Configuration: Who Goes Where?

Grade-Span Research and Issues

Schools or districts may seek information about grade span when a new school is being built, an existing school is changing grade span, or a school is improving its program to make it more appropriate for the particular grade span.

Most of the research on grade span focuses on the middle grades. Much of that research identifies practices associated with certain grade spans—for instance that schools with grades six through eight have more interdisciplinary teaming than those with grades seven through nine or offer more electives than K-8 schools. Even results such as these may vary depending on the scope and location of the study. (Compare Epstein & Mac Iver, 1990 to Hough, 1995). Very little research attempts the more difficult task of determining if a cause-and-effect relationship exists between grade configuration and academic achievement, while controlling for other factors such as school size, student socioeconomic status, teacher experience, and so on (Wihry, Coladarci, & Meadow, 1992).

Even the studies that do attempt to isolate the effect of grade span by controlling for other variables are suggestive rather than definitive. Different studies control for different variables and their results do not translate into clear policy guidelines. For instance, if a controlled study showed that sixth-graders had higher achievement test scores or fewer discipline problems in a K-6 school than in a middle school setting, we would still not have information about how this configuration affects students at other grade levels. The topic of grade span is a complex one. Issues associated with grade span include the following:

• Which grades should be grouped together in one school?
  Considerations might include whether the oldest students will function as positive or negative role models, whether the academic and social needs of each grade level can be met in a developmentally appropriate manner, and whether the grouping is consistent with community needs and values. Factors that may affect a decision about grade span may be the interests and training of the staff, the size and design of the building, financial resources, the size of the student population, and the location of the school in relation to other schools.
• How many grades should be in one school and how many classrooms per grade?
  Schools with many grade levels will have more opportunities for cross-age activities such as older students helping out in younger students' classrooms and participating in tutoring activities. Schools with big grade spans may be able to sustain more parent involvement in the upper grades than is typical in middle or high schools. On the other hand, because schools with very wide grade spans usually have fewer students and classrooms per grade, there may be fewer opportunities for elective or exploratory courses. In addition, fewer classrooms per grade means fewer opportunities to match students to teachers according to learning and teaching styles, to place students with others with whom they work well, or to separate students who don't get along. Opportunities for teacher collaboration or mentoring at a specific grade level are also reduced.

One-and two-grade schools present the challenge of how to preserve a sense of continuity and stability when all or half of the student population turns over every year. On the other hand they may offer the opportunity for a special focus on problems particular to that grade level, such as the high dropout rate of ninth-graders (Viadero, 1993).

• How many school transitions will students make during the K-12 years?
  The smaller the number of grades in each school within a K-12 system, the more transitions students will make during their schooling. Transitions can be stressful. These stresses can be mitigated by practices such as between-school visits, mentoring by students from the school at the more advanced level, special assemblies for new students, communication between the faculties and administrations of the two schools, and grouping students into teams or houses in large schools.

"[A]lthough grade organization has some important connections to particular programs and practices, on average, grade span need not be the determinant of responsive education," (Epstein & Mac Iver, 1990) concludes one pair of writers on the subject. Yet neither is grade-span irrelevant. In fact, as seen in the "Northwest Sampler" section of this booklet, the characteristics of a grade span must be carefully considered in shaping an effective instructional program.