WILDOMAR: Concerns raised about multiage classrooms

District officials will examine test data

By RANI GUPTA - Staff Writer | Thursday, September 18, 2008 10:43 PM PDT ∞

LAKE ELSINORE ---- District officials plan to study the achievement of students in multiage classrooms at Ronald Reagan Elementary following parental concerns about combining more than one grade in a class.

Trustees instructed district administrators to bring back data about students in those classes after Executive Director of Instructional Services Alain Guevara told board members that some parents were "concerned and quite angry" about the classes.

The worry, Guevara said, is that state-mandated standards are being taught for the upper grade in the multiage class and students could miss out on instruction in the lower grades. For instance, Guevara said a second-grader in a class combining second- and third-graders might learn the state's third-grade standards the first year, then go over the same curriculum when they are in another multiage class as third-graders.

"Parents have called concerned that (their) student has lost the second-grade standard," Guevara said.

He noted that some standardized tests taken by fifth-graders cover topics typically taught in fourth grade, so students who don't grasp fourth-grade concepts could struggle on the test.

"It is a concern for us," Guevara said.

Trustees asked for data on test scores for students in those classes, including a breakdown of how each grade performs in combined second- and third-grade classes, as well as in fourth- and fifth-grade classes.

Though single-grade classrooms are the norm throughout the district, multiage classrooms have been the standard at Reagan since the Wildomar school opened in 2005 as a magnet school.

The school's first principal, Craig Richter, was a strong proponent of multiage classes, which he had used with success at his previous school, Donald Graham Elementary. He touted the move as one that would promote students teaching other students and encourage them to work in groups based on their abilities, instead of working alone.

Reagan's new principal, Nori Chandler, has introduced some single-grade classrooms into Reagan. Those classes are mostly filled with students from Chandler's old school, Jean Hayman Elementary, which the board temporarily closed this year to save money.

Former Hayman students were placed by default in the single-grade classrooms and students in Reagan's old boundaries are in the multiage ones.

Chandler held a presentation at Reagan to explain both options and sent fliers home allowing parents to opt for the other type of classroom, but few did. Chandler said at most 15 students have been moved from one type of classroom to the other.

District officials are expected to present more data about students in multiage classrooms at a board meeting next month.

Contact staff writer Rani Gupta at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2625, or rgupta@californian.com.