Pros and Cons of Two Grade Classrooms

With cutbacks occurring in the amount of dollars spent on education in our state, my third-grader is going to be in a combined class with second-graders. He was specially selected for this class. It will have only 24 students, while the regular third grade will have 30 students. Just the same, I'm apprehensive about how well he'll be able to achieve in this situation. -- Divided Class
Answer: The research seems to show that children achieve at about the same levels in combined classes as in single-grade classes. This may be because the children, like your son, are often selected for these classes because of their ability to work independently, motivate themselves, behave appropriately, interact well with others and achieve academically.
Some benefits to combined classes may include a greater development of social skills, more cooperation between classmates and enhanced leadership skills for the older students. Younger students can benefit from having older students to model.
Parents are often concerned about the amount of individual time their children will receive from the teacher. This is usually the same as in a single-grade class, as it is based primarily on class size. Furthermore, combined classes tend to be smaller.
The success of a combined class depends greatly on the ability of individual teachers to handle this type of class. It is obviously more work, with material in two curriculums to be covered.
The most successful teachers combine the teaching of as many subjects as possible, with extension assignments for the upper grade. At this level, this generally works well with language arts and math. Quite often, social studies and science must be taught separately, unless common themes can be found.
In a well-thought-out program involving the careful selection of students and teachers, combined classes can work well.
This is not to say the picture is completely rosy. When teachers teach in a back-and-forth fashion, each level may not receive sufficient instructional time to learn a subject. When children are not selected carefully, the classes may have students with extremely different academic needs. Plus, children with behavioral problems can be very disruptive.
We'd love to hear about the plusses and minuses of these classes from parents whose children have been in them. Just e-mail dearteacher@dearteacher.com to let us know about your experiences.