Multigrade teaching in Peru, Sri Lanka and Vietnam: an overview

This paper comprises reviews of multigrade teaching in three countries: Peru, Sri Lanka and Vietnam. For each country, we describe the context for multigrade teaching, the country's education system, the place of multigrade teaching within the system, problems associated with multigrade teaching and current strategies for multigrade teaching. We conclude by noting some common experiences for multigrade schools across the countries, including those of isolation and dispersion, lack of physical facilities, poor teacher backgrounds and conditions, limited classroom teaching and learning strategies and pupils' deprived backgrounds. Also common across the three countries is a national commitment to improving the situation for multigrade classrooms.     

Multigrade teaching: towards an international research and policy agenda

Despite its prevalence in many educational systems, multigrade teaching remains invisible. In the global effort to achieve education for all in the post-Dakar decade the needs of multigrade teachers, classes and schools must be addressed. The paper (i) explores the meaning of the term multigrade teaching in developing and industrialised countries and identifies a range of conditions under which it arises; (ii) synthesises knowledge of the practice of and research on multigrade teaching; and (iii) proposes an international agenda for future research on and dissemination of policy and practice. The agenda underlines the need for context-specific questions and comparisons, more awareness of the prevalence and challenges of multigrade teaching, more research on the practices and training needs of multigrade teaching and the exploration of synergies between teachers, curriculum, assessment and classroom organisation. It is suggested that knowledge of multigrade teaching strategies is needed by all teachers and not simply those in classes designated as ‘multigrade’.     

Globalisation and educational research: Whose context counts?

This paper relates contemporary educational research to processes of globalisation. While the activity of educational research is essentially cultural, its production is also economic. As global research agenda emerge, the cultural contexts of those who generate funds and ideas for them are increasingly remote from those in a position to utilise research for the promotion of learning.This paper examines two bodies of research in international education located at very different points in the educational research hierarchy. The first, educational assessment, is extensive and accessible to a worldwide audience of researchers, policy-makers and practitioners in education. The second, multigrade teaching, is small, dispersed and accessible only to those who exercise a dogged persistence.The review of educational assessment underlines the need for a greater contextualisation of research and a greater sensitivity to the context of research by global policy-makers. It raises imperatives for the future conduct of research on educational assessment and international education more generally, and identifies areas for future research on the reciprocal effects of globalisation and educational assessment. The review of multigrade teaching describes briefly what multigrade teaching is, its extent, its relative neglect by researchers and policy-makers, and differences in the economic and educational contexts of the North and the South of the multigrade debate.     

Adapting the primary‐school curriculum for multigrade classes in developing countries: a five‐step plan and an agenda for change

This paper draws on the findings from an international programme of research that has demonstrated the need for teachers in many developing countries to be given more support in adapting monograded curricula to the needs of their multigrade classes. It describes four empirical models of multigrade practice and examines the models of curriculum construction and child learning that inform them. It then presents a five‐step process that can be used by curriculum planners to adapt monograded curricula, taking account of the different empirical models of multigrade practice. Finally, it outlines a strategy for implementing such a process by providing further support to strengthen curriculum units and improve teacher education.     

Supply-side interventions and student learning in Guatemala

This paper presents estimates of production functions of reading and mathematics test scores to assess the effects of supply-side interventions, such as the provision of a community-based school management programme, bilingual education and multigrade teaching, on student learning in Guatemala. The efficiency and consistency of the estimates is improved by using seemingly unrelated regressions to account for potential correlation between test scores. Results indicate that the community-based management programme, bilingual schools and traditional schools produce comparable learning of first-graders. However, in the case of third-graders the community-based school management programme and bilingual schools produce less learning than traditional schools. The learning of both first- and third-graders is found to be diminished in the multigrade teaching approach.     

The preparation of teachers for multigrade teaching

A large proportion of teachers throughout the world teach in multigrade classrooms, or classes with more than one grade level. It is reliably predicted that the number of multigrade classes will increase in the future. This paper addresses the issue of teacher education for multigrade. The main thesis of this paper is that the professional knowledge and skills that are relevant and necessary to teaching effectively in single-grade contexts are also relevant and necessary for effective multigrade teaching. However, many of these skills need to be given a specific multigrade emphasis in the context of the preparation of teachers for multigrade teaching. This does not necessitate separate teacher education programmes for multigrade teachers. The paper makes comparisons between multigrade and single-grade teaching in terms of outcomes and teaching practices and highlights the importance of effective teacher education programmes that cater for the needs of teachers in a broad rather than a narrow sense. The content of programmes aimed at the specific preparation of multigrade teachers are examined, and a categorisation of specific areas of content that need particular emphasis in the context of teacher education for multigrade is provided.     

The effectiveness of multigrade schools in Colombia

This paper evaluates the effectiveness of the Colombian New School (Escuela Nueva) program in raising student achievement in Spanish and mathematics. Typical program strategies include multigrade instruction, flexible student promotion, and community involvement. The paper finds that New Schools are better endowed with inputs like textbooks and place greater emphasis on active learning than traditional rural schools. Nevertheless, many New Schools have not implemented all the reforms. New Schools are found to have positive and statistically significant effects on Spanish and mathematics achievement in third grade and Spanish in fifth grade. Findings replicate previous evaluations.     

Evaluating multigrade school reform in Latin America

This paper describes three multigrade school reforms in Latin America: (1) Colombia’s Escuela Nueva, (2) Guatemala’s Nueva Escuela Unitaria, and (3) Chile’s MECE‐Rural. Each reform endowed primary teachers and students with special training and instructional materials, and encouraged new kinds of instruction in rural classrooms, with the goal of improving student learning. The paper discusses the challenges to evaluating school reforms in a rural context. It then reviews the international literature on each reform, assessing whether reforms were effectively implemented and whether they caused improvement in student outcomes. Even in the best cases, multigrade schools were not fully implemented. There is consistent evidence of positive effects on student achievement. Yet, the causal interpretation of evaluation findings is severely limited, especially in Guatemala and Chile. It concludes with suggestions for improving multigrade evaluations.     

Classroom composition and peer effects

This chapter examines the extent to which the composition of classes affects learning outcomes. The aim is to explore peer effects when students are organized into classes on the basis of ability, ethnicity, or gender, as well as the effects of multigrade and multi-age classes and class size. The argument is defended that these composition factors affect only the probability that differential instruction and learning occur and that, at best, their influences are indirect. Teachers appear not to change their teaching activities when class composition is changed and most often the power of peer effects is rarely realized. Any direct effects of class composition are less related to learning outcomes and more related to equity and expectation effects by teachers and other participants (students, parents, and principals). Whether a school tracks by ability or not, reduces class sizes, implements multigrade/multi-age or single-level classes, or has coeducational or single-sex classes, appears less consequential than whether it attends to the nature and quality of instruction in the classroom, whatever the between-class variability in achievement. The learning environments within the classroom, and the mechanisms and processes of learning that they foster, are by far the more powerful. Good teaching can occur independently of the class configuration or homogeneity of the students within the class.     

Achievement effects of multigrade and monograde primary schools in the Turks and Caicos Islands

This article reports on a study that compares the reading progress of students in multigrade schools with the reading progress of students in monograde schools. The research was conducted in a small island state in the Caribbean. The results of the study indicate that multigrade schools are particularly effective at promoting the reading progress of low-achieving students. It is hypothesised that this is partly because of differences in the approach to instruction in multigrade and monograde classrooms. Whereas monograde classrooms tend to be characterised by undifferentiated whole-class teaching, in multigrade classes students have more opportunity to engage in small-group work. The implications of the findings are explored for policy, practice and research.     

Assessment preferences and their relationship to learning strategies and orientations

The study investigated inter- and intra-group differences in assessment preferences among students in two academic disciplines which differ in their educational environment through examining the relationships between assessment preferences and student learning orientations and strategies. The sample consisted of 85 engineering and 87 education students in a major university in Israel. The subjects were administered the MSLQ for measuring their motivated learning strategies and the API for measuring their assessment preferences. The results indicated that individual differences in assessment preferences overshadow disciplinary group differences and that differences in assessment preferences are to a relatively large extent related to learning strategies and orientations. Implications for adaptive assessment were discussed.     

How to encourage a lifelong learner? The complex relation between learning strategies and assessment in a medical curriculum

Abstract

To foster lifelong learning skills, we need new didactic approaches with aligned assessment methods. Therefore, we investigated whether the outcomes of a project assignment show a different relation to learning strategies than a longitudinal knowledge-based assessment. We studied learning strategies of first year students of medicine and biomedical sciences (n?=?248) and performed hierarchical regression analyses for the learning strategies and grades of the longitudinal knowledge-based test and project assignment. Scores of students, measured with the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (Likert scale 1–7), were relatively low for critical thinking (3.53), compared to rehearsal (4.40), elaboration (4.82), organisation (4.69) and metacognitive self-regulation (4.33). Knowledge based tests showed a significant relation to elaboration (p?<?0.01). For the project-based assessment, we did not find a significant relation to any learning strategy (p?=?0.074). Explained variance of the grades was low for all learning strategies (R² < 0.043). Different types of assessment did not discriminate between students with high or low scores on learning strategies associated with lifelong learning. An explanation is that the curriculum is not aligned with assessment, or students do not benefit in terms of grades. We conclude that, if assessment is to drive lifelong learning skills, this is not self-evident.     

从关于学习的评价到为了学习的评价

为了学习的评价近些年来在评价研究和实践中日益被广泛接受。本文介绍了为了学习的评价的基本概念、应用为了学习的评价的主要策略和原则,并将其与关于学习的评价进行了比较。通过将剑桥评价和CTB的两个为了学习的评价的产品作为例证,作者建议专业化考试机构应该在关于学习的评价之外推进为了学习的评价以服务于教育。     

Assessment and Classroom Learning

This article is a review of the literature on classroom formative assessment. Several studies show firm evidence that innovations designed to strengthen the frequent feedback that students receive about their learning yield substantial learning gains. The perceptions of students and their role in self‐assessment are considered alongside analysis of the strategies used by teachers and the formative strategies incorporated in such systemic approaches as mastery learning. There follows a more detailed and theoretical analysis of the nature of feedback, which provides a basis for a discussion of the development of theoretical models for formative assessment and of the prospects for the improvement of practice.     

大学英语自主学习形成性评估实证研究

自主学习要求学习者监控学习进程和评价学习效果,传统的终结性评估不适用于自主学习。构建了适用于自主学习的形成性评估模式,该模式由"学习档案袋评价""教师评价"及"学生自评和他评"构成。经过在两个教学班级一学期的教学实验,结果表明:通过对学生自主学习过程的监控和管理,形成性评估激发了学生语言学习的动机和兴趣,促进了学生学习策略形成,有效培养了学生自主学习能力。     

Effective Online Instructional and Assessment Strategies

The purpose of this study was to better understand the instructional and assessment strategies that are most effective in the online learning environment. Faculty and students identified several strategies for maintaining instructional quality in the online environment, including the importance of using a variety of instructional methods to appeal to various learning styles and building an interactive and cohesive learning environment that includes group work. Online assessment strategies include having a wide variety of clearly explained assignments on a regular basis and providing meaningful and timely feedback to students regarding the quality of their work. Effective assessment techniques include projects, portfolios, self-assessments, peer evaluations, and weekly assignments with immediate feedback. The role of meaningful feedback cannot be overemphasized.     

Formative Assessment: Assessment Is for Self-regulated Learning

The article draws from 199 sources on assessment, learning, and motivation to present a detailed decomposition of the values, theories, and goals of formative assessment. This article will discuss the extent to which formative feedback actualizes and reinforces self-regulated learning (SRL) strategies among students. Theoreticians agree that SRL is predictive of improved academic outcomes and motivation because students acquire the adaptive and autonomous learning characteristics required for an enhanced engagement with the learning process and subsequent successful performance. The theory of formative assessment is found to be a unifying theory of instruction, which guides practice and improves the learning process by developing SRL strategies among learners. In a postmodern era characterized by rapid technical and scientific advance and obsolescence, there is a growing emphasis on the acquisition of learning strategies which people may rely on across the entire span of their life. Research consistently finds that the self-regulation of cognitive and affective states supports the drive for lifelong learning by: enhancing the motivational disposition to learn, enriching reasoning, refining meta-cognitive skills, and improving performance outcomes. The specific purposes of the article are to provide practitioners, administrators and policy-makers with: (a) an account of the very extensive conceptual territory that is the ‘theory of formative assessment’ and (b) how the goals of formative feedback operate to reveal recondite learning processes, thereby reinforcing SRL strategies which support learning, improve outcomes and actualize the drive for lifelong learning.     

Redesigning a learning and assessment environment: The influence on students' perceptions of assessment demands and their learning strategies

The study aimed to determine if students in a redesigned course, firstly, hold different perceptions of the assessment demands and, secondly, adjusted their learning strategies towards deeper learning. Contrary to expectations, the students in the original assignment-based (ABL) course (n = 406 students) adopted more deep- learning strategies and less surface-learning strategies than the students in the problem-based (PBL) course (n = 312 students). Although both course format as well as assessment clearly differed in the two conditions, this has not resulted in different perceptions of the assessment demands. Additionally, the results show clearly that the students who express their intentions to employ a certain learning strategy perceive the assessment demands as such and actually employ a related learning strategy.     

当代认知心理学的"学习观"及教学启示

认知心理学是当代心理学发展的主流，对教育产生了巨大的影响。认知心理学学习观主要有：学习是个体主动构建的过程，学习者已有的知识经验是学习的充分条件，对信息的认知加工和相应的策略是学习的必要条件，元认知对认知过程的意识和调控影响学习的顺利进行，动机指导着个体的学习。据此，现代教学实践应改变传统的学生观，教学过程中要加强学生的研究、学生学习策略和元认知能力的培养，教学评价也应注意学生学习过程的评价。     

How Far Have We Moved Toward the Integration of Theory and Practice in Self-Regulation?

In this article, we address four main questions, including: What is self-regulated learning for? What key strategies do students need to guide and direct their own learning process? What cues in the learning environment trigger self-regulation strategies? What can teachers do to help student to self-regulate their learning, motivation, and effort in the classroom? We illustrate that answers to these questions have changed over time and that changing conceptualizations of the self-regulation process have influenced the assessment tools that were used. We also point to changing classroom conditions as a factor that has affected the assessment of self-regulation. Finally, we formulate some questions that need to be tackled in research on self-regulation and introduce the articles and commentaries in the special issue that provide some cutting-edge work on the use of assessment to register self-regulation over time.