A critical element needed to accomplish the Ross Valley School District’s MAP program goals was the multi-age structure in which two grade levels are in the same classroom working on a common curriculum. This served as the foundational structure that allowed the individualized learning curriculum described above to be maintained consistently over six years of K-5.
The multi-age program was a unique offering within the Ross Valley School District. The wide span of age and resulting developmental differences in a two-year classroom created an environment which meets developmental needs by encouraging a wide range of learning styles and developmental rates. With a common curriculum for both grades, an open-ended curriculum based on inquiry and exploration is a must. The multi-age structure provides for very flexible groupings to teach math and language arts in ways appropriate to different children’s developmental level and style of learning.
Each MAP teacher typically had each child for two years and therefore only 10-13 new students per year. This resulted in a very strong teacher-student bond and allowed the teacher to learn and cater to each child’s own learning style. The second-year students in a class were looked up to by the first-year students and teach the first-year students class processes, thereby allowing the teacher to focus on educational content rather than class procedure. And children benefit from alternating between being the younger and the older, or the mentee and the mentor.
Just like in the traditional rural one-room schoolhouse the more advanced students strengthen their basic skills by teaching the less advanced, which is good for both. This mentoring role changes from subject to subject and is available to all students. Students also develop a sense of caring and nurturing as they help each other learn.
The MAP teachers had frequent meetings to coordinate approaches and ensure consistency over a six-year program.
Currently, the Ross Valley school district does purchase project-based curriculum from Expeditionary Learning but has no multi-age inquiry based programming of its own.