Mathematics Instruction in Combination and Single-Grade Classes: An Exploratory Investigation

Abstract

Combination classes (also termed split or multigrade classes) are a form of classroom grouping that typically occurs when school enrollments are imbalanced or inadequate, resulting in teachers’ managing students from two or more grades for most or all of the school day. These expediently formed classes, embedded within a graded system of schooling, therefore differ significantly from multiage or nongraded classes, formed deliberately because of pedagogical or philosophical interests in team teaching, flexible grouping, individualized instruction, continuous progress curriculum, and the elimination of all vestiges of gradedness. This exploratory study compared the curriculum, instructional strategies, and organizational formats used by six combination class teachers for mathematics with those used by eighteen single-grade teachers (six who used traditional whole-class teaching and twelve who used two within-class ability groups). Results showed that the instruction, classroom organization, and curriculum content and materials of combination class teachers differed in significant ways from those of both traditional whole-class and within-class ability-grouped (two-group) single-grade teachers. Observers’ ratings and low-inference measures indicated that combination classes included fewer instances of peer cooperation, innovative curriculum, and individualized instruction. Furthermore, teacher-directed and independent-group variables (e.g., meaningful presentations, use of manipulatives, higher-level thinking emphasis) varied significantly among these three grouping formats.