The Case for the Self-Contained Classroom

Abstract

chools group children in a variety of ways. From a vertical perspective, children may be assigned to family groups (e.g., kindergarten plus grade one), whose antecedent was the combination class. (Some types of non-grade programs are organized in this manner.) Schools can also be organized along the lines of the wellknown Joplin Plan, by which children at particular reading levels go to designated reading classes regardless of their age and grade level. Most frequently, this procedure is used in grades four and above. Finally, schools can be structured according to the traditional age-grade grouping by which five-year-olds are usually in kindergarten, six-year-olds in grade one, etc. Retention makes the age range in a grade greater than one might initially assume. From a horizontal perspective, school-wide grouping can be considered from at least two focal points. One is the characteristics of the children, and the other is the structure of the teaching assignments. In the former situation, there are separate classes or pull-out programs for diverse groups such as gifted/talented and educable mentally handicapped as well as homogeneous classrooms designated (by some code) as high, average, or low. The opposite of these organizational placements is random assignment, in which classes are assumed to be heterogeneous (mixed) rather than homogeneous (alike) according to some academic or intellectual criterion. An administrative variation of both alternatives is stratified heterogeneous grouping, a practice in which a principal will assign, for example, two or three reading levels to a teacher in such a manner that each member of the faculty has a relatively high, average, and low reading group. Each child is likely to be provided appropriate materials and to receive more instructional time than is the case when a wide range of differences exists (children