At CTL, students in grades PK–12 learn in multiage classrooms with no more than twenty students per class. This small, community-centered structure allows teachers to build strong, lasting relationships with individual students and to differentiate instruction in ways that honor each child’s unique strengths.

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Multiage education is grounded in the belief that all children can learn, though they learn at different rates and in different ways. Our classrooms emphasize motivating, hands-on activities that take into account students’ learning styles, multiple intelligences, and personal interests. Teachers provide individualized support so that motivation and learning are accelerated. The multiage approach is child-centered, not curriculum-centered. With the flexibility of grouping across developmental levels, children engage in learning experiences that focus on their needs rather than following a rigid, prescribed curriculum. Because learning tasks are based on developmental readiness, students make continuous progress and experience greater success.

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Research supports this approach. Multiage classrooms have been found to improve student achievement as teachers guide students along a continuum of growth over multiple years (Stone, 1996). In a review of 64 studies, Pavan (1992) found that students in multiage classes performed better academically than their peers in single-grade classrooms, developed stronger self-concepts and self-esteem, and exhibited more positive attitudes toward school—the longer they were in a multiage setting, the greater the benefits.