Blazing New Trails - Connexions

Principals and Teachers Stated Beliefs as Compared with Their Perceptions of Multiage Implementation 189
The survey data for the individual item scores for principals were presented in Tables
7 -12. Each of the six sections was equal to or above 13.00, which indicated a high agreement
with the principles of nongradedness. Those ranges of scores were: Goals of Schooling 15.57;
Organization 14.36; Curriculum 13.00; Instruction, 15.24; Materials 13.92; and Assessment
14.435. The sum of 86.44 or 80% exceeded the score of 81 or 75% which Anderson and
Pavan (1993) indicated as a very high agreement with the principles of nongradedness. The
assumption that had the highest score was in the category of instruction which stated: “Since
people learn in different ways, multiple learning alternatives should be available.” The areas
that had the lowest scores were under the category of curriculum. The first belief stated:
“Sequences of learning are determined by the student.” The second belief that had a low score
stated: “Children formulate their own learning goals with guidance from their teachers.” The
data indicated that the principals in the survey had a high level of agreement with Pavan’s
assumptions regarding multiage education.
Research Question 3: How do teachers and principals vary in their assumptions
regarding multiage education?
A comparison of the teachers’ and principals’ assumptions based on Pavan’s
Principles of Nongradedness (1993) is displayed in Table 13. The figures are the total for
each category for teachers and principals. Each category which had a score of 13.00 or greater
indicated a strong support for nongradedness (multiage) education. The difference between
the teachers and the principals’ ratings ranked from 0.0 to .60. The category with the highest
agreement was Organization and the least agreement was in Materials.
Table 13. Comparison of Teachers’ and Principals’ Assumption Scores.
Factors Teachers Principals Difference
Goals of Schooling 15.23 15.57 0.34
Organization 14.36 14.36 0.00
Curriculum 13.23 13.00 0.23
Instruction 15.54 15.24 0.30
Materials 14.52 13.92 0.60
Assessment 14.40 14.35 0.05
Total 90.28 86.44
For both teachers and principals, each of the six sections was above the minimum
score of 13, which indicated a very high agreement with the Principles of Nongradedness.
The scores ranged from 15.54 to 13.23 for the teachers and 15.57 to 13.00 for the principals.
The sums of 90.28 and 86.44 both exceeded the score of 81 or 75% which Anderson and
Pavan (1993) indicated as a very high agreement with the Principles of Nongradedness. There
were variations in the category scores with the highest scores for teachers in the Instruction
category and for principals in the Goals of Schooling category. For both groups, the lowest
score was in the Curriculum category. For both groups, the assumption that had the highest
score was in the Instruction category which stated: “Since people learn in different ways,
multiple learning alternatives should be available.” For both teachers and principals, the
assumption that had the lowest score was under the category of Curriculum. The first
assumption stated: “Sequences of learning are determined by the student.” The second
assumption that had a low score stated: “Children formulate their own learning goals with