el 196112 perkins

8/19/2019 El 196112 Perkins

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Hugh V Perkins

N o n g r a d e d P r o g r am sW ha t P r o g r e s s ?

AMONG the most perplexing

realities which cont inuously recur in thelife of ever y teacher are th e marked differences in achievem ent intelligencemot ivation c ultural and ex perie ntialbackg round and p hysical and soc ialmaturity w hich exist within any graupof learners. F or decades educators havegiven lip service to the need for teaching children as individ uals and for pro

viding more adequatel y for individualdifferences. They have con ducted exte nsive research in child developm ent overn early a half-century have stud ied insigh ts gained by teachers during tw odecades of participatio n in child study programs and have not ed the continuingresearch in percep tion learning and personality. All these have demonstra ted

that learning is most e ffective when it ismeaningful a nd is related to the individ

the le arner as enhancin g his ownconcept.

Yet in spite of these influencesrecently no break-through hasachieved toward fully implementingprinciples of individ ual differenc es.

critical reexamination of Americancation which has been c arrie d oneducators and lay groups since 195resu lted in the dev elopment ofnew appro aches to age-old problemseducation. Du ring this peri od also nbut promi sing ap proache s towardtion of an educatio nal problem wheretofore has gone lar gely unnotihave sud denly come und e r closertiny and have become the focal pointinten sive study and ex perimentation.

One such approach and type of orization is th e nongraded school.arrangem ent p rovi des a flexible grouand organization of c urriculum conthat e nable children of var y ing abiand rates of maturing to expe rience tinuo us progress in learning. Althothe speci fic details of no ngraded orgzation vary in different school syswhere it is bei ng used certain gecharacteristics m ay be noted. Inof these schools the n ongraded orgzation function s onl y durin g the primyears but often is linked with th e kin

ga rten program. A few schools a reperi menting with this type of orgation in the intermediate y ears.

T he nongr aded type o f organizaappears to hav e had the greatest ience on the p ro gram and patterngrouping in readin g. Ch aracteristicallythe reading experiences of the primyears arc organized rhto eigh t to

For a comprehensive discussion of theCrade d school see John I. Goodland and RH l ' i

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quential steps or levels through whichch child moves at his own rate. Probly its most unique feature is the flexility possible in moving a child fromoup to group or from one classroomanother at any time his growth War

nts such a change.In an effort to assess the present status

nongraded programs, this writernalyzed questionnaire responses from

representative systems, many of whichave used some type of nongraded patrn of organization for three years orore.-

Impetus for nitiating Program

The most frequently mentioned reasonr adopting a nongraded type of oranization was a growing dissatisfactionhich teachers and administrators exessed regarding promotional policiesey had been using. In many cases thisssatisfaction was echoed also by part s Several respondents felt that the

ongraded program might give them anger period of time for studying theogress of individual pupils beforeaking a decision on retention. It was

oped too, that such a plan might rel t in larger numbers of children com

eting the primary program in the

ormal period of time. Many respondentsentioned their desire to eliminate theeling of frustration children have ase result of failure.A n important impetus in the initiao n of these program^ was the strongonviction held by key administratorsd teachers that educational practice

The writer is indebted to tlie followinghool systems which responded to this survey:orona and Torrance, California; Pocatcllo,

h M li d P k F t Illi i B l i

should be more consistent with what isknown concerning individual differences.The nongraded type of organizationseemed to hold promise of fuller realization of development and learning forall children. Other educators were dis

satisfied with the achievement of theirstudents in reading and language arts.They believed that reading performancewould improve in a nongraded programin which children move to successivelevels only when they are ready forthat level.

What were the educational and philosophical considerations which promptedthese respondents to change their attitude toward a nongraded program?

The administrators and faculty members believed that: (a) learning shouldbe continuous; (b). children grow andlearn at different rates and each shouldhave the opportunity to achieve at hisown rate; (c) the school program should

be flexible so as to meet varying developmental needs and growth patterns ofindividual children; and (d) greaterachievement will result when childrenexperience success in school

Nearly all respondents indicated thatan initial and continuing orientation isused to acquaint teaching staff and parents with the objectives and operation

of the nongraded program. Typically, astudy by the faculty has preceded itsintroduction. In some schools parentshave participated with teachers in thepreparation of orientation materials andin the development of a new report card.It seems clear that the general acceptanceof the nongraded program by communities using it is due in no small measureto the careful and continuing orientationof both staff and parents.

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R espondents report that the chief advantages of the no ngra ded pa ttern oforganization are these: few er childrenare retained, children's progress in learning is greater and more con tinuous, flexibility in group ing has succeeded in fitting the educational program mor eclosely to th e nee ds and maturity ofthe indi vidual chil d, a nd pressures forachie vement and mai ntaining standards have been eli minated or markedly reduced. In addition, some nongr adedschool s report: an improve ment inteacher-parent rapport; slower childrenare id entified earlier;, high er teacher and

pupil morale; and increased teamworkam ong teachers and b etween teachersand parents. Moreover, when learningexperie nces are tailored to the needs ofthe individual, c urriculum takes on newmeaning. Yhe flexibility inhere nt in the nongrad ed program permits the use ofteam tea ching a pproach es and allowsteachers to work with the same groupmore tha n one year.

Disadvantages not ed were that som eteachers an d parents find absence ofspecific grade standards diffi cult to accep t. Teaching a nongraded group requires more work of the teacher, butit also is apparently m ore satisfyin g.Several resp ondents mentioned the increased time and e ffort re quired inkee pi ng records. Another mentioned th eproblem of articulati ng the levels program with other subject area s such asarith metic a nd social studies. Finally,se veral report problems relating to theorien tation a nd adjustment o f new teachers to the nongraded program. One repo rts difficulty in finding teachers w hoare willing to work with the less matureor the slow learner. Another h olds tha t a

few teachers ma y use absence of gradelevels as an excuse for their ow n indif

ore valuation Needed

M u ch of the evaluation of nongradedprogr am s has been inform al and hasconsisted of questionna ire reactions ofparen ts and teachers, observed be

havioral changes in individual children,and comparisons of achievement testsco res Collectiv ely, thes e evaluationsshow th at children are making significantly greater progress in read ingachievement than are matc hed childre nin traditi onal classroo ms, and that tin

reactions of parents and t eacher s are ingeneral favorable/' The nongrade d pattern appears to b e especially facilitativein enabling the more capa ble hildren

to achieve advanc ed reading skills andto proceed toward independent readingm uch so oner than p reviously.

Shap ski foun d that children in anongraded program sco red significantlyhighe r th an did matched controls intra ditional graded sc hools She alsofound that c hildren at all abilit y levelsbenefited from the individualized flexible program, with thos e: of superior intellige nce making the greatest gains ofall. In addition, Sh apsk i found that underthe nongraded plan less than half as many child ren of average or low averageintelligence spend four years in the primary program as would occur if the decision on promotion wa s rendered at the

end of their first year of school.'The marked increas e in interest shown

and the adoption of some kind of nongra ded organization by hundreds ofschools each year indicate c learly theneed for mo re controlled and definitive

Vivien Ing ram. Flint Evalua tes Its Primary C ycle. E lementary Scho ol ournal 8 1: 76 80;November 1960

' Mary K . Shapski. Ungraded Pri mary Reading Programs: An Obje ctive Evaluation. E le

menta ry School ou rna l 1: 41-45; October

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studies of n ongrad ed prog ra ms. Wh a ta re the eff ect s of th is type of experi enc eo n other area s of child ren 's lea rning an ddevelopment? We nee d to lear n much more conc ern ing th e ef fects of th es epr ograms throu g h care full y co ntro lled

studieswhic h assess th e chan ges in children's self con ce pts^ leve ls of an x iety-l e v e l sof a spiratio n and fe eli ngs of self-esteem in crease in peer statu s andchanges in other skill and subject ar eas.Only th en can the e ffec tiven ess of th es eprograms h e ascer tain ed the fi ndi ngsused to make needed improv em ents an dt h e kn owled ge g ained for adap ting an d

modifying a gen eral stru ctu re to fit thespecificneeds of a p articu lar scho ol andcommu nity. Som e of the se st udi es a realready u nde r wa y bu t m any mo re a reneeded.

Loo k to the Future

The m ountin g wide spread in terest in

and ac ce ptance of the nong rad ed program m ar k this movem e nt as on e whichs li ke ly to have a st rong in fluen ce onfuture edu c ational pro gram s and or gan iz ation. It is eviden t that th is arra ng ement impl em ents in e ducati on al prac ti ce'much that w e now kn ow ab o ut indi vidual diffe renc es. Too in the f reedomgiven the le arn er to pr oc eed at his own pace in the le ssening of pressu res and in opp o rtunitie s given ea c h child to e xperience succe ss the n o ngrade d /pr ogram bring s to fu lle r real iza tion thequalities of a fav orabl e clim ate for learn ing

O n the othe r hand some rat h er ob vio u s lim itations and pi tfalls hav e beennoted in nongra d ed pat ter ns of org aniz ation. First in mos t n ongr ade d school s thein div iduali zat ion of ins truct ion has b een confined to readi n g. W h ile rea di ng is

parent that ind iv idualiz a tion an d pacing of ins tru ction leading to in c reasedachieve m ent in other are as also a re longo verd ue. Sec ondly there is da nge r thatwithou t a st rong c ommi tm ent to a program b ase d on the indi vi dual r ates of

mat urin g and n eeds o f childre n these quence of s tepw ise leve ls may re sultin the rep lacing of grade stan dard s b ya no ther se t of sta ndar ds differen t innam e only.

Fi nally w ith th e nongra d ed p at ternha ving prov ed succe ssfu l in m any sch oolswhic h plann ed care fully in orienti ng teache rs and parents p rior to its intro

du ctio n ther e is grea t dan ger that oth er school system s will ju m p o n a no ng raded bandwa gon wi th out an a dequate preparatio n of staff and com munity. Ex perience suggests tha t scho ol s sho uld prepar e ca ref ully a nd begi n slow ly so tha tthe n on grade d program whi ch emergesis one th at is ta il ored to p ar ticula r childr en of a pa rticu lar sc hoo l a nd commun ity . Plan n ing for ch ildren 's de velo pme n t shou ld not re sult in a mad d a shfor the new look me rely so that e duc ators a nd pare n ts may fee l that they a re educat ionally o ut fitted in the lat est style

Much of the po tentia l of th e non -g raded pa tterns is as ye t un ta pped. Thus fa r it has bee n us ed prima rily as a n organ izatio na l de vi ce for g rouping pupilsye t it has the po tentia l fo r b ecom ing m uch mor e tha n this. This m ore v alidvi ew of chil dre n an d their d evelop m entcalls for new approac h es to the curricu lum . T he ex plo ding inc rea se in know le dge em p hasizes the need for sequ entialo rg anizat ion of co ntent so that ind ividua lizat ion and pac in g of in struction can be carrie d out in al l fields. In truth ourli ves are too sho rt a nd our need s a re

too great fo r us to affo rd the luxu ryof chil dren' s be in g b oun d to rig id stand -

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I too am worrie d not so much about Kim Chung Suk as about the conditions which he sym b olizes. How can form aleduc ation in Kore a or in my owncountry for that m t ter be more closelyrelated to th e problems and needs of th en ation and to th ei r solution . A programin w hi ch greatest e m phasis is on me morizati on and pred icted an swe rs fails to sti rth e creativ e powe r th at is desperatelyn eeded for the salvation of a cou ntrythat is in transition fro m ox to jet.

The des ce ndants of men who inventedthe first m ov eable type mad e of metala nd the first arm ored boats as well asast ro nomical instru ments a mari n er'scompas s a su spension b ridge and a pho netic alpha bet should have a better educa tion in th eir schools. At the sa me time that m inds are disci plined to think andto gain the tools of thou ght there should be opp ortun ity for exer cise of though ton problem s tha t make a differ en ce inmen 's lives. As Kor e an students gro w ine xperien ce an d power they will have to conc eive of improve d explo itation andc onservation of n atural resources of improve d irrigatio n of increa sed hyd roelectric po w er and of the industries th atsuch power makes po ssibl e. They willhave to de velop export items for trade.Th ey will have to find wa ys to unit e and strengt h en their country .

I would not have less art a nd lesspoetry or less c oncern for the l iteratu reof ot her nations inc luding the work s ofErnes t H emingw ay o r less sensitivity to th e beauty of the Korean countryside .But I would h ave greater free d om forchildr en to do some thinking on th eirown mor e emphasis on the quality ofle arning

ina school an d less on the

m inu tiae which tend to cha ract erize aco mp etitive entran ce ex aminatio n

mistakes closer relationship betwesch ool and the fam ily a nd a larger ti ny for the young men of the universitiethan the rep licat ion of their own leing.

D ON S U D L O W C

No ngraded Program s

a rd s and inflexible segments of co norgani zed as grades th rough whic hdents pass in lo ck-step fas hion.

The non gra ded pattern of organiztion together with the bo dy of phsophical and psycholo gi cal princ iwhich giv e it meanin g ha s the opptunity for infl uenc ing profoun dlypatte rn a nd orga niz ation of elemeneducatio n in A merica an d possibl yondary an d h igher educat ion as wThe e xtent to w hich thi s influ encesults in educational chan ge will depupon tho se of us who u se and develits pattern an d p hilosophy.

A loo k into the future migh t hofull y reveal innum erable varieti es typ es of indivi dualized self-pacedterns of inst ruction each d ev elopeda result of th oug htful planning a ndtinuou s evaluation in relation tounique ne eds of stude nts a nd communitIn a br oade r c ontext one mig ht hth at the k nowled ge g ained in thevelop men t of this and other instructionpatte rns mi ght l ead to a m ore comph ensive an d fu nctional underst andingho w human being s learn and dev eThe ex tent to wh ich these hopesre alized dep ends upon the wisdom

el 196112 perkins

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