Welcome To Longfellow School

LONGFELLOW PROGRAMS & GOALS

Single Grade
A single age classroom is made up of children of a single age level (a one year span) and different ability levels. Children are assigned to their classroom teacher for one year, during which instruction is centered around a single year’s curriculum. At the end of the school year, students graduate to the next grade level and are assigned to a new teacher.

Multiage
Multiage classrooms utilize an organizational structure in which children of different ages (at least a two-year span) and ability levels are grouped together, without dividing them or the curriculum. Students stay with the same teacher for two years.

Teachers in each of these settings use a variety of instructional strategies and groupings within their classrooms to meet the range of student needs, abilities, and interests.

Goals for all classrooms at Longfellow

	Teachers and students accept and respect one another’s similarities and differences.
	Assessment is an ongoing diagnostic activity that guides instruction. Learning tasks are planned and adjusted based on assessment data.
	All students participate in respectful work -- work that is challenging, meaningful, interesting, and engaging.
	The teacher is primarily a coordinator of time, space, and activities rather than a provider of information. The aim is to help students become self-reliant learners.
	Students and teachers collaborate in setting class and individual goals.
	Students work in a variety of group configurations, as well as independently. Flexible grouping is evident.
	Time is used flexibly in the sense that pacing is varied based on student needs.
	Students often have choices about topics they wish to study, ways they want to work, and how they want to demonstrate their learning.
	The teacher uses a variety of instructional strategies to help target instruction to student needs.
	Students are assessed in multiple ways, and each student’s progress is measured at least in part from where that student begins.

Revised: November, 2003