Looping as a Class Placement Approach

The following is adapted from an article published in Parent News, Nov. 2000 edition, entitled: Same Teacher, Different Years: Facts about Looping

What Is Looping?

Looping is a term that is used to describe the educational practice in which a single-grade class remains with the same teacher for two or more years. This practice may also be known as continuous learning, continuous progress, persisting groups, multi-year grouping, or teacher/student progression. It is not to be confused with the practice of mixed-aged grouping, in which there are students from more than one grade level in the same classroom.

What Are the Advantages of Looping?

Teachers with multi-year assignments with the same group of students have identified several social and academic advantages to looping.

Social advantages include the following:

• Reduced apprehension about the new school year and the new teacher after the first year (Hanson, 1995; Checkley, 1995);

• Increased benefits from the time spent developing social skills and cooperative group strategies in the subsequent years (Hanson, 1995);

• Increased student self-confidence (Checkley, 1995) and a chance to overcome shyness (Mazzuchi & Brooks, 1992);

• A stronger sense of community and family among parents, students, and teachers (Checkley, 1995); and

• Greater support for children who look to school as a stabilizing influence in their lives.

Academic benefits are also numerous. Among them are the following:

• A gain of almost a month of teaching time, since time for getting acquainted is eliminated and less review is needed (Hanson, 1995; Mazzuchi & Brooks, 1992);

• An increase in teacher's knowledge about students' intellectual strengths and

weaknesses in a way that is impossible in a single year;

• An increase in the number of chances that are available to make connections

during learning and overtime (Zahorik & Dichanz, 1994); and

• More opportunities available to tailor the curriculum to individual student

needs (Checkley, 1995).

Sources

Checkley, Kathy. (1995). Multiyear education: Reaping the benefits of "looping." ASCD Education Update Newsletter, 37(8), 1,3,6.

Gaustad, Joan. (1998). Implementing looping. ERIC Digest [Online]. Available:

http://www.ed.gov/databases/ERIC Digests/ed429330.html (ERIC Document No. ED429330) [2000, November 29].

Hanson, Barbara J. (1995). Getting to know you: Multiyear teaching. Educational Leadership, 53 (3), 42-43.

Mazzuchi, Diana, & Brooks, Nancy. (1992). The gift of time. Teaching Pre-K-8, 22(5), 60-62.

Northeast and Islands Regional Educational Laboratory at Brown University (NIREL) (1997). Looping: Supporting student learning through long-term relationships [Online]. Available:http://www.lab.brown.edu/public/pubs/ic/looping.shtml [2000, November 29].

Zahorik, John A., & Dichanz, Horst. (1994). Teaching for understanding in German schools. Educational Leadership, 51(5), 75-77. (ERIC Journal No. EJ477531)