Although school has been out here for only two weeks, we are already thinking about September and the next school year. Our middle child will be starting kindergarten, and it is possible that he will be in a class that is not only collaborative (twice the number of students and twice the number of teachers), but that will “loop” as well. That is, the teachers would progress with the students when they move on to the next grade. Though this will be a first I think for our public school district, an article in today’s NY Times (“Goodbye, Class. See You in the Fall.”) tells me that it is becoming more common in schools in this region and around the country.

This concept will not be surprising to those familiar with the Waldorf schools, or with the educational systems of other countries. My wife spent her first four or so schoolyears in Germany with the same teacher, and has always thought that there are advantages to this method: The teacher will enter the new year already familiar with the abilities of her students, and they will not have the anxiety of an unfamiliar setting when they return in the fall. A disadvantage would be a poor teacher or classmates, but one hopes that there will be an “out” built in if the teacher or fellow students are not a good match for your child. We will look forward to seeing how this works out—it is encouraging at least that the schools are willing to try something new.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 11th, 2005 at 12:42 pm and is filed under Parenting/Education. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.