As part of an 8-year study of education reform in rural Kentucky, this report examines the primary program that has evolved in six rural elementary schools as a result of the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA), which requires that grades K-3 be replaced by a nongraded program. This change aimed to eliminate failure in the first 2 years of…

Multiage grouping is one way schools can organize around students and their learning. In multiage grouping, students of different chronological ages are intentionally assigned to the same classroom. Multiage grouping may also be called "mixed age." Other terms, such as "nongraded,""ungraded,""multigrade," or "split-grade," are often used…

Schools across the United States are creating teacher teams in ever-greater numbers. "Teaming" refers to assembling a group of teachers from different disciplines and/or grade levels who work together as a "core group" responsible for teaching a subset of the school's population. This brief examines some of the potential conflicts between teacher…

Nongraded primary education is the practice of teaching children of different ages and ability levels together, without dividing them or the curriculum into steps labeled by "grade" designations. Changing from graded to nongraded structure requires a major investment of time, energy, and commitment on the part of teachers and…