Hancock Elementary plans hybrid multigrade model for fall, administration outlines teacher supports

Hancock Elementary School will implement a hybrid departmentalized multigrade model in the fall, Principal Jessica Vizzina told the Contoocook Valley School Board on July 8, describing curriculum planning, scheduling changes and teacher collaboration intended to support students across mixed-grade classrooms.

Vizzina said the school combined certain grade levels this year (for example, K–1 and other mixed combinations) and researched best practices for multiage and multigrade instruction. She told the board the Hancock model will have partial specialization: one teacher will focus on literacy across the multigrade group while another will teach math to a single grade group to allow targeted, standards-based instruction. "This model gives us a little bit more flexibility to meet kids' needs," Vizzina said.

She outlined four teaching models considered by the elementary principals — grade-specific rotation, combined/blended, content specialization and hybrid departmentalization — and said Hancock chose the hybrid model to balance focused instruction in math with flexible multigrade groupings for literacy, science and social studies. Vizzina described administrative supports: additional teacher planning time, trimester curriculum plans aligned to multigrade needs, summer team planning for routines and flexible grouping, and using existing classroom strategies such as rotations and targeted small groups.

The presentation emphasized that multigrade instruction in a standards-based public system requires explicit alignment to grade-level expectations and assessments. "There are strengths from the multiage model that we can incorporate into multigrade instruction," Vizzina said, listing flexible grouping, peer collaboration and center-based rotations as strategies already used in district classrooms.

Board members asked about class balancing and whether the approach could expand to other schools. Vizzina said decisions would be guided by school-specific enrollment and teacher capacity and that administrators would continue to monitor outcomes and share practices across the district. The board did not take formal action but the administration said it had already scheduled summer planning sessions and would incorporate multigrade best practices into school goals and fall schedules.