Mixed-grade class at Evergreen Elementary

For a long time, one-room schoolhouses were the main place where children of all grade levels received their education. In recent memory, however, this has been replaced with the modern school system many Americans are familiar with where each grade is in its own classroom.

In some schools, such as Evergreen Elementary, necessity has brought about a return of some aspects of the earlier system. Jen Davies, for example, teaches a mixed-grade classroom of second and third-graders.

Davies’ class of 19 students is composed of seven third-graders and twelve second-graders. She said that the reason...