Da. Mason et Tl. Good, MATHEMATICS INSTRUCTION IN COMBINATION AND SINGLE-GRADE CLASSES - AN EXPLORATORY INVESTIGATION, Teachers College record, 98(2), 1996, pp. 236-265
Combination classes (also termed split or multigrade classes) are a fo
rm of classroom grouping that typically occurs when school enrollments
are imbalanced or inadequate, resulting in teachers' managing student
s from two or more grades for most or all of the school day. These exp
ediently formed classes, embedded within a graded system of schooling,
therefore differ significantly from multiage or nongraded classes, fo
rmed deliberately because of pedagogical or philosophical interests in
team teaching, flexible grouping, individualized instruction, continu
ous progress curriculum, and the elimination of all vestiges of graded
ness. This exploratory study compared the curriculum, instructional st
rategies, and organizational formats used by six combination class tea
chers for mathematics with those used by eighteen single-grade teacher
s (six who used traditional whole-class teaching and twelve who used t
wo within-class ability groups). Results showed that the instruction,
classroom organization, and curriculum content and materials of combin
ation class teachers differed in significant ways from those of both t
raditional whole-class and within-class ability-grouped (two-group) si
ngle-grade teachers. Observer's ratings and low-inference measures ind
icated that combination classes included fewer instances of peer coope
ration, innovative curriculum, and individualized instruction. Further
more, teacher-directed and independent-group variables (e.g., meaningf
ul presentations, use of manipulatives, higher-level thinking emphasis
) varied significantly among these three grouping formats.