Is a Looping Classroom Right for Your Child?

Looping, or multi-year teaching, is defined as an educational practice in which a teacher advances with a single graded class of children for two or more years or grade levels. At the end of the second (or third) year in the pattern, children move on to a new teacher while the looping teacher returns to the lower grade level to receive a new group of students.

This is not a new concept in education. In fact, the one-room school houses of long ago provided the ultimate looping experience with students and teachers working together for several years. Now, as then, looping offers many benefits for children, teachers and their families.

Children today endure many challenges before they even pass through the school doors - child abuse and neglect, hunger, family instability, homelessness (Forsten, Grant & Richardson, 1999) and language barriers, to name a few. Once inside, many deal with the added burdens of learning disabilities, attention deficient disorders, and bullying and other social issues.

Schools also face a myriad of obstacles of their own including ever-present budget constraints and mandated high-stakes testing.

Looping is a simple, cost-effective means by which schools can provide an atmosphere of stability and security (Vann, 1997) in which children feel cared for and comfortable enough to concentrate on learning.

But is a looping placement the best choice for your child? To make an informed decision, you should hear what research in the field has to say:

BENEFITS

Children in looping classrooms benefit from a reduction in anxiety, increase in confidence, and a sense of community, continuity and stability (Gaustad, 1998; Grant, Johnson & Richardson, 1995).

They "experience immersion in a stable 'family' group during the looping cycle. For many children this may be a partial antidote to the discontinuities in family life that accompany separation and divorce" (Bingham, 1995, p. 16).

"Keeping children with the same caring, concerned teacher over a two-year period provides the stable foundation that many children need" (Forsten, Grant & Richardson, 1997, p. 13).

The continuity of a looping classroom makes English language learners feel more at ease. They develop trust in their teacher through time and become more confident in practicing their developing English skills (Kelly, Brown, Butler, Gitten, Gaylor & Zeller, 1998).

When children anticipate spending two or more years together in a looping classroom, they begin to bond and develop the concept of family pride (Kelly, et al, 1998).

Kelly, et al, (1998) state that a benefit to children is the positive social growth that occurs. They noted a strong interdependency and saw signs of empathy, concern and mutual respect among students because they had blended into a cohesive team during the three years they spent together in a looping classroom.

Summer anxiety was substantially reduced among students who were returning to the familiarity of their looping classrooms (Denault, 1999).

Parents of looping students reported their children had better attitudes toward school. They gained confidence to become stronger students, worked cooperatively, and took responsibility for their learning (Denault, 1999).

The longer academic runway provided by a two-year classroom has additional benefits for struggling students. While looping is not a substitute for special education, special education referrals are typically less frequent in looping classrooms. Looping has also been found to reduce, but not eliminate retentions. (Forsten, et al, 1997).

DRAWBACKS

There is the possibility that a child will be placed with a poor teacher for more than one school year (Denault, 1999).

It is inevitable that there will sometimes be mismatches between teachers and students (Vann, 1992, as cited in Denault, 1999), an occurrence in traditional classroom arrangements, as well.

On occasion, a child may have a hard time letting go at the end of a multi-year relationship (McMackin & Blackwell, 1997).

When a child has been ostracized by his or her peers, looping can extend these harmful relationships with their classmates and prevent them from meeting potential new friends in their classrooms the following year (Vann, 1997).

CONCLUSIONS

In addition to the above-listed benefits to students in the looping classroom, this arrangement also has many benefits for the teacher and the families of students involved.

While looping is not without drawbacks, the advantages of looping far outweigh the disadvantages.

The most important factor by far in the whole looping equation is the caliber and commitment of the teacher. If you are considering a looping classroom for your child, it is important that you can be assured that your child's looping teacher is a caring, compassionate and dedicated professional.

At my school, as in many other districts, parents are given the opportunity to remove their children from their looping classrooms at the end of the first school year in the looping cycle without explanation, thereby eliminating many concerns about participation in a looping arrangement. You will want to find out what your school's policy is before committing your child to a looping classroom.

On a personal note, there are several teachers in my school district who have opted to take on looping teaching assignments, and my son was placed in a looping classroom for his third and fourth grade years. It was an extremely positive experience for him. He told me that his last day in his looping classroom was the "saddest day " he'd ever had at school. Quite an endorsement!

REFERENCES

Bingham, A. (1995). Exploring the multiage classroom. York, ME: Stenhouse Publishers.

Blackwell, A. & McMackin, M. (1997). Exploring the multiage classroom (book review); the looping handbook (book review); a room with a different view (Book Review). The New England Reading Association Journal, 33(2) 22-3+

Denault, L. (1999). Restructuring? Keep it simple...consider looping!. The Delta Kappa Gamma Bulletin, 65(4), 19-26.

Forsten, C., Grant, J., Johnson, B ., & Richardson, I. (1997). Looping Q&A: 72 practical answers to your most pressing questions. Peterborough, NH: Crystal Springs Book.

Forsten, C., Grant, J., & Richardson, I. (1999). Multiage and looping: borrowing from the past. Principal, 78(4), 15-16.

Gaustad, J. (1998). Implementing looping. ERIC Digest 123, Retrieved February 9, 2007, from ERIC electronic database.

Grant, J., Johnson, B., & Richardson, I. (1995). Multiage Q&A: 101 practical answers to your most pressing questions. Peterborough, NH: Crystal Springs Books.

Kelly, P.A., Brown, S., Butler, A., Gittens P., Taylor, C., & Zeller, P. (1998). A place to hang our hats. Educational Leadership, 56(1), 62-64.

Vann, A.S. (1997). Looping: looking beyond the hype. Principal, 76, 41-42.