One of the girls who found oral reading very hard chose the group reading the most difficult novel. The students did not expect that all of the members of the mixed-age group would have the same level of oral reading skill, and less skilled readers were not embarrassed. The teacher was able to change the focus of the group from oral reading skills to what each child had gotten from reading the novel. We have always known that some students who have the most difficulty with oral or silent reading are also the ones who have the best insights. It's rewarding to see children who don't think of themselves as good readers come to realize that they may understand a story at a different level from some of the most adept oral readers.
Students become more willing to take risks.
Mary has over twenty years of experience as principal of the recently renamed Mary Stitt Olive Elementary School. This School has been providing mixed-age classrooms of exceptional quality since the early 1970s. Mary will also consult with experienced teachers in answering your questions. But the process of nongrading lays bare long-standing educational problems. A compatibility between the nongraded structure and continuous pupil progress, longitudinal curriculum development, and integrated learning becomes obvious.