Rebecca A. Proehl, Shelese Douglas, Dean Elias, Anthony H. Johnson, Wendy Westsmith

A Collaborative Approach: Assessing the Impact of Multi-Grade Classrooms

Introduction

A collaborative approach: assessing the impact of multi-grade classrooms. Explore multi-grade classrooms in urban Catholic schools as a solution for declining enrollment. Discover their impact on student outcomes, highlighting social-emotional and developmental benefits.

Abstract

Catholic schools in the United States are faced with the looming challenge of declining enrollments. One possible strategy for dealing with this problem is to institute multi-grade classrooms where students from two or more grades are combined in one classroom with one instructor. In this article, the authors examined one urban Catholic school’s successful transition to multi-grade classrooms when student enrollment dropped dramatically. The transition to multi-grade classrooms did not have a significant impact on student outcomes as measured by absences, tardiness, or academic performance though other social-emotional and developmental benefits were perceived. For example, the students were more likely to nurture other students and be nurtured by them; assume shared responsibility and leadership in the classroom and at home; were involved in fewer disciplinary incidents; and were more respectful of their classmates. The researchers offer lessons learned about the transition for other Catholic school leaders who may be considering such a change.

Review

This article addresses a highly pertinent and pressing issue facing Catholic education in the United States: declining enrollments and the strategic responses to maintain viability. The authors examine the implementation and impact of multi-grade classrooms in a single urban Catholic school as a direct response to a dramatic drop in student numbers. A key finding of the study is that this transition did not significantly deter student outcomes in terms of absences, tardiness, or academic performance. Crucially, the research highlights several perceived social-emotional and developmental benefits, such as enhanced nurturing behaviors among students, greater shared responsibility and leadership, fewer disciplinary incidents, and improved respect for classmates. These insights offer valuable preliminary evidence for an alternative organizational model. While the study provides a practical case example, the methodology, as gleaned from the abstract, presents some limitations. The focus on a single urban Catholic school, while offering deep insight into one successful transition, significantly restricts the generalizability of the findings to the broader, diverse landscape of Catholic schools (e.g., suburban, rural, varying socioeconomic contexts). Furthermore, the abstract notes that social-emotional and developmental benefits were "perceived," which implies a qualitative or observational approach, but lacks detail on the rigor of these measurements. A more comprehensive understanding of *how* these perceptions were gathered and triangulated (e.g., through student and teacher interviews, parent surveys, behavioral observations) would strengthen the claims regarding these important non-academic outcomes. The "collaborative approach" mentioned in the title also remains largely underexplored in the abstract's summary of methods. Despite these points, the article offers essential "lessons learned" for other Catholic school leaders grappling with similar challenges, positioning it as a valuable resource for practitioners. For future research, it would be beneficial to expand the scope to include a broader sample of schools, potentially comparing outcomes across different contexts or implementing a quasi-experimental design where possible. Moreover, a more robust, perhaps mixed-methods, approach to measuring the social-emotional and developmental benefits, including validated instruments or extensive ethnographic observation, would provide stronger empirical support. Investigating the long-term impact on students and the sustainability of these benefits, alongside a more detailed exploration of the collaborative processes involved in successful transitions, would further enrich this critical area of educational inquiry.

Full Text

Comments

You need to be logged in to post a comment.