Describes a study to determine a nongraded, continuous-progress program's effects on five- and six-year-old students' attitudes toward school, readiness scores, and mastery of subject matter. Results found no statistically significant difference in readiness scores between kindergarten students in traditional classes and those in nongraded…

This packet contains four separate documents designed to help elementary schools develop their own action plans for implementing the KERA (Kentucky Education Reform Act) Primary Program, a developmentally appropriate program for young children supported by the Kentucky Department of Education. Fully implemented primary programs are to include the…

This report describes Kentucky's Primary School Program, which was developed after the signing of the Kentucky Education Reform Act in 1990. An overview of the report explains the philosophy of the program and lists its critical attributes. These are: (1) developmentally appropriate practices; (2) multi-age classrooms; (3) continuous progress; (4)…

The Fairfax County (Virginia) Schools have developed a pilot program, Success by Eight, that groups students ages 5 to 8 for different types of learning, based on performance in each subject. By restructuring K-2 classes into multiple, flexible groups, the program provides opportunities for continuous learning and development during critical…

In Bangor, Maine, a seamless, continuous-progress performance assessment in reading is evolving--all because 24 first-grade teachers objected to using standardized achievement tests. Teachers have developed the Bangor Assessment of Reading (BAR), a triennial process of assessing fluency, meaning construction, comprehension, reading strategies, and…

This practicum report deals with the development and implementation of a nongraded program of instruction in the primary levels of a public school. Progam activity, from the initial informational and planning phases, through development and implementation, and, finally, to postprogram assessment, is the subject and substance of the report. The…

Although teachers usually refer to it in other terms, career-related learning is already widespread in primary schools in the United Kingdom. Teachers readily recognize that, even without any adult interventions, children constantly assemble impressions of work and that it is important to broaden primary school pupils' horizons and experiences of…

School restructuring movements have gained a great deal of national attention. This guidebook addresses the multi-age classroom movement, in which a mixed-age group of children stays with a given teacher for a number of years. The work provides a complete design for the mixed-age primary classroom, from philosophy and rationale to sample lesson…