Keeping Teacher, Students in the ‘Loop’

Teachers often complain that, just as they are really getting to know their students, the school year ends and--presto!--it’s time to pass the little dears to another instructor, who will then have to spend a month or more tuning in to different attitudes and learning styles.

But what if a teacher had the chance to stay with the same children for two, three or even more years? Would there be any benefits?

Plenty, say advocates of “looping,� the practice of advancing a teacher from one grade level to the next, along with the class.

Though as old as the one-room schoolhouse, the concept is used so rarely these days that it is considered innovative. It is popping up in a smattering of public schools in Sacramento, Long Beach and Pasadena as well as in Ohio, Georgia, Massachusetts and other states. The concept is sometimes used by schools that offer multi-age classrooms, which group children together for two or three years.

Looping is a key component of the private Waldorf schools and is common in other nations, including Germany and Japan.

“The whole idea behind looping is that teachers start the second year already knowing the student’s [standardized test] profile, family background, home situation and behavior,� said Frank J. Lawler Jr., principal of Lisbon Elementary School in Sacramento, where several teachers loop. “It probably saves 1 1/2 to two months.�

Aware of such benefits, Howard Miller, chief operating officer of the Los Angeles Unified School District, floated the idea of asking teachers to volunteer as loopers in schools scoring at the bottom of the state’s Academic Performance Index. In a commentary piece earlier this year, Miller suggested that if a teacher stayed with the same students for four years, starting in kindergarten, and taught 80% of them to read at a third-grade level, the teacher should get a $50,000 bonus.

Teachers discounted the idea as unworkable, citing, among other obstacles, the district’s high student transiency rates. But Miller, who found only a few examples of looping in the district’s schools, said he hopes the idea will eventually find favor as a way to hold teachers accountable for children’s learning and to reward them if appropriate.

“There appear to be real educational advantages,� he said. “It’s certainly something to have further discussions about.�

Enthusiastic practitioners say looping provides stability and helps build a sense of community, allowing children to blossom both socially and academically. The concept particularly helps shy, quiet youngsters because they have more time to develop self-confidence and close peer relationships. Students who know their teacher and classmates tend to hit the ground running at the start of a new school year without experiencing the usual apprehension.

Teachers, meanwhile, get a better handle on students’ learning needs, abilities and interests. They can also provide more time for slower students to learn basic skills without having to resort to holding them back.

“You truly do get to know each child and each family,� said teacher Dennis Demanett, who plans to take his current batch of third-graders all the way through eighth grade at the Pasadena Waldorf School. “You have an opportunity to design a school year in the way you think is most appropriate.�

Wendy Campbell, whose daughter Caitlin has been with Demanett’s class since first grade, credits looping for the “very comfortable relationship� her family has developed with Demanett. They often socialize outside the classroom.

In the first parent-teacher conference in first grade, Campbell said Demanett displayed a keen interest in Caitlin and appeared to have quickly grasped her personality and weaknesses.

“I got the overwhelming sensation he wouldn’t have [been so interested] if he hadn’t known he would have her in his class for so many years,� said Campbell, who lives in La Canada Flintridge.

Researchers say looping also has positive effects on children’s behavior. At schools in Attleboro, Mass., where looping in two-year segments is required from first through eighth grades, officials have reported improved attendance and test scores, fewer discipline problems and fewer referrals to special education.

In East Cleveland, Ohio, a low-income, largely African American suburb of Cleveland, an experimental looping program resulted in “spectacular� improvements in student achievement, said Frederick M. Hampton, an associate professor of education at Cleveland State University who devised the pilot program in 1993.

The program, called Project FAST (Families Are Students and Teachers), featured several components beyond looping, notably an insistence on effective teachers, parental involvement and an enrichment camp, where looping teachers worked with their students over the summer.

Hampton’s research indicated that all concerned--students, families and teachers--reaped benefits from the project, particularly from looping.

“I think it works terribly well for children who experience inconsistency at home,� Hampton said. “For a lot of our children, school was the most stable place.�

Despite its success, Project FAST hit a stumbling block. When the school district reorganized recently, some of the most effective looping teachers moved into administrative jobs. Hampton has put the project on hold but plans to revive it.

Looping does have potential disadvantages. Parents and pupils, for example, might feel that a teacher is incompetent or boring, and therefore would view with alarm the idea of staying with that instructor for years on end.

In addition, a personality clash between a child and a teacher or a teacher and a parent could lead to tension, but most schools say such situations are rare and can be resolved by moving the child to another classroom.

Pasadena Waldorf’s Demanett, who has looped for 24 years, said it should be the adult’s responsibility to work things out; he has found that he often ends up feeling closer to children with whom he initially had a conflict. Only once, he said, did strong differences with a parent prompt him to ask that a child be moved.

Another downside is that newcomers who enter a closely knit looping class can often feel disconnected for a time. And teachers must take the extra time to get up to speed on another year’s curriculum. If they don’t, instructional weaknesses could sorely hamper pupils.

Teresa Cooper, who teaches children in pre-kindergarten through first grade at International Elementary School in San Diego, said it is tough on teachers to have to bone up on more standards and curricula. But, she added, “it makes you a better teacher.�

For Demanett, the best reward of looping is the close bond he feels with families. As parents often tell him: “It’s so wonderful to have somebody else who knows my child.�