Through recent doctoral research, the author examined the powerful force of school culture, as well as other factors, and the role it plays in schools with multiage classrooms. Combined with his personal experiences, he is certain of one thing: School-based innovations face an uphill battle. This article briefly discusses the author's examination…

In nongraded, multi-age classrooms, children have the opportunity to learn a great deal from their more proficient classmates. Children in multi-age, nongraded programs often learn that children differ, and they learn to assist each other in productive ways. The organizational scheme has the potential to remove much of the competition of…