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.

Is Looping New?

The practice of keeping students and teachers together for two or more years has been used for many years in some schools in the United States and has been commonly used in Europe. For example, Rudolf Steiner founded the Waldorf Schools in Germany for the education of the children of the Waldorf-Astoria cigarette factory workers. At that time, it was common for students to remain with the same teacher from grades 1 through 8 (Northeast and Islands Regional Educational Laboratory at Brown University [NIREL], 1997). Today, it is more common for this practice to be used only at the primary level, or in grades K-3, both in Europe and in the United States, although the Waldorf schools still maintain the practice of students staying with the same teacher for grades 1-8 (Gaustad, 1998).

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 over time (Zahorik & Dichanz, 1994); and
* more opportunities available to tailor the curriculum to individual student needs (Checkley, 1995).

Are There Disadvantages to Looping?

While many experts believe that the potential advantages of looping outweigh potential disadvantages, all agree that parents and teachers who are concerned about the "down" side of looping are worried primarily about the possibility of a bad match between teachers and pupils, among individual students, or among groups of students.

Experts suggest that it is a good idea for schools to anticipate and plan for social interventions that might be needed ahead of time, and to make a commitment to being supportive of individual children and teachers as they adapt to the social environment. Teachers should try to balance the potential advantages of looping with the needs of an individual student in unusual circumstances. While moving an unhappy student to another class is likely to be rare and a last resort, it should not be ruled out.

Other concerns include the following:

* the need to be extra-sensitive to new students (Hanson, 1995);
* the heavy sense of responsibility that teachers feel for their students' progress and performance on standardized tests (Hanson, 1995); and
* the separation period at the end of the cycle, which is difficult for both teachers and students (Hanson, 1995).

Experienced educators see looping as a way of making large high schools less anonymous, meeting the needs of the changing American family, and creating more continuity and fostering social constructivism in learning. High-quality research is needed to determine whether, as many educators contend, multi-year programs have a profound impact on students both socially and instructionally.

For more information

Chapman, Janet. (1999). A looping journey. Young Children, 54(3), 80-83. (ERIC Journal No. EJ586494)

Nichols, Get W.; Nichols, Joe D. (1999). Looping: The impact on parental attitudes in the educational environment. International Journal of Educational Reform, 8(3), 274-79. (ERIC Journal No. EJ591076)

Reynolds, Janice Carner; Barnhart, Brad; & Martin, Barbara N. (1999). Looping: A solution to the retention vs. local promotion dilemma? ERS Spectrum, 17(2), 16-20. (ERIC Journal No. EJ589451)

Looping: Adding time, strengthening relationships. ERIC Digest
http://ericeece.org/pubs/digests/1997/burke97.html

Looping
http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/methods/instrctn/in5lk10.htm

Looping: Discovering the benefits of multiyear teaching
http://www.ascd.org/readingroom/edupdate/1998/1mar.html

To loop or not to loop: 'Tis a question for many schools
http://www.naesp.org/comm/c0296.htm

Looping: Something easy that works well
http://www.teachnet.com/how-to/looping/index.html

Middle school educators give looping high marks
http://www.edweek.org/ew/vol-16/11middle.h16

Looping Q & A: 72 practical answers to your most pressing questions
http://npin.org/books/forste97.html

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)