When Josie entered 4th grade, she had typical "new-year" anxieties: Would she find 4th grade science as fascinating as 3rd grade science? Would she have more homework? Would she still enjoy her math classes?
One concern Josie didn't have was whether she would need to adjust to a new teacher and new classmates; Josie's class had "looped." She and the 3rd grade class, teacher and all, had gone on to 4th grade together.
Reducing apprehension about the new school year is just one of the benefits of multiyear programs, often referred to as looping. A class that loops stays together for at least two years, sometimes more. The strong interpersonal relationships students build with their teacher and their peers, and the opportunity for teachers to better customize curriculum and instruction, are reasons why looping can improve student learning.
Building Relationships
"So much of young children's learning is based on relationships," says Sue Bredekamp, director of staff development for the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). A looping schedule, she says, gives children time to build those personal relationships, time they wouldn't have in a typical nine-month schedule. Other educators agree.
April Schilb is one of two teachers piloting a multiyear schedule at Hillcrest Elementary School in East Moline, Ill. This year, Schilb moved with her 2nd grade class to the 3rd grade. While Schilb expected the looping schedule to result in improved student learning, she was "absolutely amazed" by the enthusiastic attitudes of her students.
"Last year they started out as a group of students placed in a single classroom somewhat ready to do the tasks the teacher assigned to them," says Schilb. They returned this year as self-directed learners. "It wasn't necessary for me to explain to them when and how we would learn—they told me!" Schilb attributes her students' confidence to the sense of community they now share. "The students have learned to take risks because they trust each other," she explains.
"The multiyear model supports sustaining relationships," asserts Denise Hershberger, principal at Bayside Elementary School in Stevensville, Md., who this year implemented a looping schedule because she wants to build a stronger sense of community among teachers, students, and families. The bonds that can develop over two or more years promote better communication and interpersonal skills, says Hershberger, because students "are more comfortable with their peers and with their teachers." And, because children aren't changing teachers as often, parents are also more comfortable, which helps strengthen the connection between school and family.
This connection is critical, according to Lilian Katz, professor of early childhood education at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. A learning environment that parallels the family environment is one that emphasizes cooperation and collaboration. "These are life skills," says Katz, "skills all of us have to employ every day."
Katz adds that because a looping schedule can create a sense of family, such a schedule can also give some students their only sense of stability.
"For students without a stable home life, continuity at school can offset the negative impact" of the uncertainty in their lives, agrees Michael Simkins, principal at Baywood Elementary School in Los Osos, Calif. When Simkins was an elementary school teacher, he had a core group of students for four years, 2nd through 5th grades. His students became an extended family for Simkins, and several even invited him to their family celebrations when they graduated from high school years later. That experience taught Simkins about the power of building relationships in school. Such relationships encourage students to make contributions to the learning environment. "People are loyal to the relationships that matter to them," says Simkins.
Customizing Curriculum
"We're always talking about individualizing instruction," observes Bredekamp. "But you can't individualize instruction until you know the individuals." Through multiyear programs, teachers come to know their students in a deep way, she contends.
Such knowing—and the additional time with students that looping provides—can give teachers opportunities to tailor their curriculum to meet each student's needs.
David is a 3rd grader who reads at a 4th grade level and has exceptional mathematical abilities. David is also a quiet, well-behaved child, loath to draw attention to himself. While David's gifts became apparent within weeks, just how bright he was did not surface as quickly, says Schilb, who believes looping will allow David to profit from the curriculum she's created to tap his unique abilities.
To meet David's academic needs in reading, Schilb ordered trade books geared to his instructional grade level. To make spelling more demanding, Schilb created a special program for him—while other children learn how to spell "shade," for example, David will add the appropriate tenses, prefixes, and suffixes to the word. David will also use the words the rest of the class studies to write sentences for the weekly spelling test. And, to challenge him mathematically, when the rest of the class begins to study simple multiplication, David—who learned simple multiplication in Schilb's class the year before—will be taught two-digit multiplication.
"It's so much easier for me to establish academic expectations" for a longer period of time than for the traditional nine months, says Schilb. Social expectations are also easier to establish—and easier for students to meet—in a multiyear program.
"David has grown into a child more willing to share his knowledge," Schilb observes. Because he's become comfortable with his peers, and they've become comfortable with him, David has found a niche for himself in the classroom. He is now known as the "editor," and other students call upon his expertise in that role.
Make Me a Match
Experts refer to adopting multiyear schedules as obstacle-free reform, but looping does raise some concerns. Chief among them is the possibility of conflict—of making a bad match.
"In looping programs, you have the opportunity to establish some very positive relationships. You also have the opportunity to establish some very negative ones," says Schilb. One of her 2nd grade students was assigned to a different 3rd grade class because he and his classmates could not get along. In situations like that, students "have to be given an out," Schilb says.
Schools can be flexible, agrees Hershberger. "If a conflict occurs, a student can be moved."
In addition to conflicts among students, there is also the possibility that a teacher won't "click" with a student—or with the parents of a student.
But these are the exceptions, maintains Bredekamp, "and policy shouldn't be made on exceptions. Don't prohibit multiyear programs just because they sometimes may not work."
"If we have a child that we know is going to suffer, we will move him to a classroom where he will be more comfortable," says Theresa Kessinger, a 3rd grade teacher who has taught for more than 20 years at Bayside Elementary School. A better option, she believes, is to help that child adapt to new social environments. "I wouldn't want to move a child until we've worked very hard to iron things out."
A Lasting Trend?
Multiyear programs are not new to education. They have been a tradition in Germany for many years. In the United States, looping has been most common in small rural schools where declining student populations required that teachers loop and multi-age (teach children of different ages and instructional grade levels) in order to fill classrooms. And, in many schools, multiyear programs aren't necessarily planned; they emerge as teachers voluntarily change grade levels or as the school copes with staffing and scheduling challenges.
Still, despite the apparent longevity and prevalence of multiyear programs in public education, there is not sufficient data to support what many educators contend: that multiyear programs have a profound impact both socially and instructionally.
"We need some good research," says Katz. "We need a good close study of how this might be effective. Why do some teachers seem to capitalize on these sorts of programs while others don't? What practices enable teachers to optimize the benefits of such programs?" When these data are available, she contends, advocates will be better able to validate the multiyear practice.
Some educators are already convinced that looping can make a positive impact, with or without conclusive data.
"Why uproot kids year after year and expect them to relearn a new set of rules each year?" asks Schilb.
Adds Simkins, "Where else (but at school) do you keep changing significant people in your life and think it's good?"
A Two-Teacher Partnership
A Two-Teacher Partnership
There are many looping configurations a school can adopt, but most schools will loop classes for no more than two years. Such arrangements require a two-teacher partnership.
Classroom A teacher moves to classroom B with the class and keeps those students for a second year.
Classroom B teacher returns to classroom A to pick up a new class and begin another two-year cycle.
Adapted from Staying Focused on the Children, (c) Jim Grant and Bob Johnson, 1994.
The Seven Oaks Experience
When funding challenges at Seven Oaks Elementary School in Lacey, Wash., required school officials to trim some of its programs, parents were asked which of those programs they would like to see continued. The multiyear schedule topped the parents' list of "keepers."
"Parents are very receptive to what we're doing," says Joe Belmonte, principal at Seven Oaks. "The two-year program allows students to be part of a community; it gives them a sense of stability and connection."
At Seven Oaks, the entire school, except kindergarten, is on a multiyear schedule: 1st and 2nd grades, 3rd and 4th grades, and 5th and 6th grades are looped together in clusters. A strength of the schedule, says Belmonte, is the extra instructional time teachers gain through knowing "where their students are."
"By the second year, teachers pick up about six to eight weeks of instructional time," explains Belmonte, because they don't have to "figure out" the students. When all the grades are included in a multiyear schedule, "by the time a student leaves, he or she has had an additional 18 weeks of instruction."
The multiyear schedule at Seven Oaks has boosted student achievement, says Belmonte. Standardized test scores have gone up since the school opened six years ago. While these results can't be linked to one particular program, cautions Belmonte, "Certainly program consistency is one contributing factor."
