My daughter just started first grade at Thornhill Elementary. Much to our displeasure, she was placed in the K-1 split class. (Unfortunately, schools seem forced to institute split classes as a way of accommodating small classes in the lower grades and the larger classes in the upper grades--an unintended consequence of class size reduction.) There are 12 kindergarteners in the class and 9 first graders. I am quite concerned that my daughter will be getting cheated out of a bona fide first grade education and experience.

My husband and I debated back and forth about whether to make a big push to try and get our daughter switched to a different class, but finally decided against it because our daughter has now had 2 days in the class, loves her teacher, and is settled in. Additionally, our daughter has a chronic illness that requires special, though minimal, training on the part of the teacher. The training has already taken place and would have to be repeated (likely to really annoy the principal, district nurse, school secretary, etc. who all have to participate) if a change were to be made.

Our concern was that it would be disruptive and potentially damaging --both to our daughter and relationships with school personnel--to force a change at this "late" date.

So we have decided, with much reservation and anger (we had specifically requested our daughter not be placed in the split class) to leave our daughter where she is. I'd love to hear suggestions from parents about how we might work with the teacher to ensure that the entire first grade curriculum is being taught. I know there are two schools of thought pertaining to the pros and cons of a split class and I would love to hear the thoughts of parents who have had children in split classes. I'd also love to hear from any teachers with experience teaching split classes.

Strategy-wise, I'm afraid I don't have all that much advice except to keep on top of how the class and make sure your child is getting what she needs academically and socially.

The advantages:

1) Able to work at her skill level. Where she was above class level, the teachers gave her the resources to work independently. When she needed extra help, there were other class mates in the same situation.

2) Friendships at all age levels. In 4th grade, she avoided the competitive stuff that developed among the 3rd grade girls by playing with 2nd graders--girls and boys. In 5th grade, she had friends among both 4th and 5th grade girls (and one or two boys). The multigraded classroom at our public school seemed to be insulated from much of the more sophisticated and troubling social scene that developed in the other fifth grade classrooms.

3) Opportunity to be the best at something, if you are one of the older ones, and to take a role assisting younger classmates.

4) (Especially at the public school) opportunity for small group time. At our school, the 4th and 5th graders had different science and music curricula, so during those periods, the teacher had only half the students.

If your daughter loves the classroom and seems happy, I wouldn't worry about her falling behind, but of course monitor her progress!

She had a brilliant Kindergarten teacher but still had some problems both academically and emotionally. She never spoke in circle time and really struggled with number concepts. This Kindergarten teacher was assigned to teach a mixed grade K-1 class the next year (due to class size reduction). She was able to handpick both the K and Grade 1 students for the class. It was balanced in everyway possible. No students were in the class whose parents had strong objections. She gave me all the reasons why she thought it wood be good for my daughter to be in her K-1 class. It wasn't a completely easy decision as somewhere underneath it felt like I was being told my daughter was a failure.

It turned out to be a break-through year for my daughter. She blossomed, developed leadership skills, and began to think of herself as an an "artist." The teacher clearly taught a differentiated curriculum. Also, the Kindergarten students left at 1pm so the 9 1st graders had an entire hour with the teacher. My daughter still struggled with arithmetic so this teacher thought she would benefit from being in a 1-2 class (with some of the same children.) Given how well she had done in the K-1 class, we readily agreed.

Our second mixed grade class was not as wonderful. The 1-2 teacher had never taught grade 2 before (and grade 1 for only 3 years). Most families in the class, both grades, were unhappy the whole year. I think the teacher was unhappy, too. It was never clear what was being taught or how it was differentiated by grade. My daughter enjoyed the year (the teacher was nice and the class did lots of fun things) and was given at or above grade level marks on the report card. However, on the SAT 9 she scored VERY low on arithmetic (even factoring for all the other problems with the SAT-9). I decided she was graded more on effort and cooperation than actual performance.

I work in the Graduate School of Education and one of the Professors I work for has a child assigned to a 4/5 class this year. He spoke with colleagues and did a literature search and found there is little to no published research on mixed grade classes. His colleagues could really only offer annecdotal information -- which is all I can offer.

It was a mixed experience. I now think that a mixed grade class can be beneficial in the early grades as it can be a good alternative to retention but only with very carefully chosen teachers and students. The question that really can't be answered is whether the progress we saw in 1st grade was due to a mixed grade class or to another year with the same brilliant teacher I tend to think it was the latter. I doubt that I would agree to a mixed grade class for 3rd, 4th or 5th grades.