"Through looping, I've
had my students in math and science class for two years now.
What strikes me most is the progress of students who often get
lost in the system - the shy ones who now ask questions because
they trust me, the unmotivated ones who now come in for help
because they know I'll be supportive, and the defiant ones who
now recognize that I'm an ally who cares for them. These are
the kids who need adults' support the most, but it takes them
the longest to develop relationships. Looping gives us the time
to make these relationships happen." --a
teacher at Benjamin Franklin Intermediate School, Daly City,
California
Effective small schools are not only designed to support
relationships; they are also structured to allow these relationships
to develop over time. Students need support from adults and classmates
they know and trust. Teachers can help young people learn more effectively
when they know their students well, both emotionally and intellectually.
This knowledge and trust does not develop overnight.
Thus, many successful small schools keep students
and teachers together for multiple years. Some also create advisory
structures that provide time during the school week to support ongoing
relationships among teachers and students.
Part of the reason sustained relationships are
so important is that they enable more time for serious teaching
and learning. Ever since the U.S. adopted the Prussian age-grading
system, the practice of handing of students to a different teacher
each year has provoked the age-old teachers’ complaint about
how we lose so much ground with our kids with all the start-ups
and wind-downs that occur. As teachers, we get a new set of students
in September, and by November, if we are elementary teachers, we
begin to know most of them and something about how they learn. (Secondary
teachers may have a chance to get to know 20 or 30 percent of their
students in a detailed way by mid-year.) We get a good month of
teaching in before the winter holidays, and when they come back
we get another good couple of months before testing season begins
in April, and after the test preparation and testing process, we
are pretty much into the denouement for the year. We’ve learned
so much about our students, and then they go off to another teacher,
who has none of the knowledge we’ve assembled, and we start
all over again with a new group.
Looping When students and teachers stay together
for multiple years – a strategy some call looping –
they do not have to spend all that time re-establishing relationships
and developing norms and routines, and they can devote much more
time to the business of learning. Teachers can come to know their
students and families well, and can organize their teaching to take
advantage of student strengths and experiences and to address student
needs. In most countries we think of as peers or competitors, teachers
stay with the same students for at least two years, sometimes three,
and occasionally four. This is true even at the high school level.
A principal in Japan, where teachers work for at least two years
with the same students, put it well: “The first year you can
look and listen; then in the second year the real learning can begin”
(Sato, 1994, p. 12). Among students, staying together over time
reduces the tension that often comes with negotiating a new set
of peers; conflicts are less likely because kids come to know one
another and develop trust. As a student at a small school in Boston
put it, “We have to get along. We see each other all day,
every day, and we know we’ll be staying together.”
Although many educators associate looping with
the elementary grades, it is effective in middle and high schools
as well. Often looping in secondary school is accomplished through
the use of interdisciplinary teaching teams that stay with the same
students for two grades. Research shows that when teachers and students
work together for longer periods of time, achievement levels go
up (Gottfredson & Daiger, 1979). In addition, researchers have
found that multiage, multilevel classrooms can be extremely successful
for all kinds of students (Anderson & Pavan, 1993).
Advisories Another way that small secondary schools
provide student support and enable strong relationships to develop
is through advisory structures that make sure no student falls through
the cracks. Rather than asking guidance counselors with case loads
in the hundreds to give students personal attention, these schools
put advising into the hands of teachers, who are given time to work
intensely with small numbers of students.
Advisory groups place 10-15 students together
with a faculty advisor several times a week for ongoing academic
and personal counseling and support. These small student-adult ratios
are achieved by having nearly every staff member in the school take
responsibility for an advisory. In many cases, teachers advise students
they also teach in class, thus increasing the amount of time they
spend together during the week. At some schools, students stay with
the same advisor for at least two years – thus building on
existing relationships over extended periods of time.
Connections
With Families Advisory teachers are advocates for their
students, and they serve as the main adult point of contact for
their advisees, gathering information from other teachers about
what the young people need and spearheading efforts to support them.
Advisory teachers also call home frequently and meet with students’
parents several times a year to strengthen relationships with families
and to help parents understand what students are working on and
what they can do to support their success.
Advisory and looping are strategies that allow
teachers to know students and their families well over time. With
this knowledge, teachers can design curriculum that motivates their
students and supports their needs, so that they can succeed academically.
