Student Achievement of 3rd-Graders in Comparable Single-Age and Multiage Classrooms

Abstract

This study compared reading, writing, and mathematics achievement of students in comparable multiage and single-age classrooms in three different school districts. We sought links between these two types of classroom groupings and 1) gender, 2) Title I and non-Title I status, and 3) Hispanic and non-Hispanic students. We used performance-based standardized achievement tests to assess student abilities of a more complex nature. This study used samples of 3rd-graders from school districts where both single-age and multiage classrooms existed. One threat to the validity of these results was selection bias (Burns & Mason, 1998). This threat was taken into consideration by using a control variable, Title I and non-Title I. We analyzed results by main effects and interaction with this control variable to determine if the type of student taught (e.g., Title I or non-Title I; boy or girl) seemed affected by classroom organization. Results showed higher achievement for regular students in multiage settings when compared with the same population of students in a single-age setting, but no differences were observed for Title I students in both multiage and single-age settings. We concluded that non-Title I students in multiage classrooms were achieving more highly than non-Title I students in comparable traditional single-age settings. However, the hypothesis that multiage grouping might benefit Title I students and other traditionally lower-achieving students was not borne out in this descriptive study.