Budget Crunches Push Chicago-Area Schools To Multi-Grade Classrooms

The Chicago Tribune (3/15, Malone) reports that a number of schools in and around Chicago are combining two grades into one class, with a shared teacher. "Although multiage learning has long been a hallmark of Montessori education, today its finances, not academics, driving the renewed interest in many districts." In the face of tightened purse strings, "more educators are realizing they can save the cost of a teacher's salary every time they put extra students from two grades into one class together rather than keeping them separated, with two different teachers. 'People are revisiting it because it's a viable option and, historically, it's always worked,' said Jim Grant, an educational consultant and author who has written on the subject. But 'it's done out of financial necessity.'"