The grouping of some elementary-school students in multi-grade classes should get a fresh look in State College, Superintendent Robert O’Donnell said Monday.
State College school-district leaders have long allowed multi-grade grouping for younger students, placing some third- and fourth-graders — and some first- and second-graders — together in single classes. The practice has generated efficiencies for the district, particularly in schools where space and staffing are especially limited.
O’Donnell, who arrived in State College last year and is new to multi-grade elementary classes, said the district tentatively plans to run a thorough evaluation of the approach in the coming months. The district counts 14 multi-grade classrooms in the Park Forest, Easterly Parkway, Radio Park and Ferguson Township elementary schools.
Ten of the 14 are at the Park Forest school.
‘If it is very good practice, then I think it needs to be systemized’ more formally in the district, O’Donnell said at the Monday school-board meeting. ‘If it’s better than a traditional grade structure, then it should be systemized.’
But if it’s not, he went on, then the district should reflect further.
O’Donnell said any changes — if they materialize — would be implemented well down the road, not in time for the next school year.
‘There’s no doubt that multi-age’ classes bear efficiencies, he said. But the school system, he added, needs to strive to place students ‘in the best situation they can be’ in, with a focus on ‘total balance and well-being.’
Board member Amber Cistaro Concepcion, whose son has been in a multi-grade classes for two years, said she has found some advantages to his experience. Being assigned to the same teacher in that environment for two consecutive years, she said, can be a real benefit, as it helps foster a sense of community and the parent-teacher rapport.
‘I think it’s a nice thing to have that variety’ of multi-grade and single-grade classes, board member Laurel Zydney said. ‘ … We may want to do more policy around it, but I would hate to see us go to either extreme.’
Administrators are looking to study district policy on some class sizes, too, with an eye to ‘flexibility in maximizing resources based on need and enrollment, rather than only enrollment,’ according to an administration memo.
Also at the Monday board meeting, O’Donnell said the district will soon initiate public discussions about possible student-activity fees.
The administration has expressed a willingness to consider new activity fees, including for athletics and other extracurriculars, as the district faces another likely budget gap. The concept has been raised in the last two budget cycles, but did not win approval with board members at those times.
O’Donnell said public discussions about the idea are likely to begin in late Februrary or early March. An activity-fee structure could be accompanied by some assistance program for students in financial need, an administration document shows.
