This article describes the results of a second school improvement study directed at schools with mixed-age classes, and compares the results of this second study with the first study. The second improvement study examines the effects of a staff development programme which introduced selected findings from teaching effectiveness research into ongoing school settings with mixed-age classes. In addition to the staff development programme the effects of coaching are also evaluated. In contrast to the first improvement study the staff development programme was implemented by teacher educators and school counsellors in the regular educational support context (in-service teacher education). A quasi-experimental, treatment-control group investigation was designed to test the effects of the staff development programme 'Dealing with mixed-age classes', and the effects of coaching. Based on pre-and post-training classroom observations, the second improvement study--like the first one--revealed a significant treatment effect for pupils' time-on-task levels in mixed-age classrooms, and for teachers' instructional and classroom management skills. Only two coaching effects were found: for organising effective instruction and for dealing with disturbances. Time-on-task levels improved more strongly in classes of coached teachers. In the second improvement study the effects on teacher instructional and classroom management skills, and pupil behaviour are smaller than in the first study. The staff development programme as conducted in regular in-service settings by teacher educators and school counsellors was less effective than the staff development programme as conducted in an evaluation setting by the designers of the programme.

This study describes the long-term effects of a staff development programme based on selected findings from teaching effectiveness research in schools with multigrade or mixed-age classes. The short-term effects of this programme were examined in two studies directed at schools with multigrade classes. The first improvement study was conducted in the school year 1986/87; the second improvement study was conducted in 1989/90. In the latter study, the effects of coaching in addition to participation in the staff development programme were also evaluated. In the school year 1992/93, a retention or follow-up study was conducted. A quasi-experimental, treatment-control group design was used to test the long-term effects of the programme 'Dealing with multigrade classes' and the effects of coaching. Based on pre-and post-training classroom observations, the follow-up study revealed a significant treatment effect for the time-on-task levels of the pupils in the multigrade classes and for the instructional and classroom management skills of the teachers. No significant differences were found between the coached and uncoached teachers and between the teachers who followed the programme either 2 or 5 years ago. No significant differences were found between the post-test and the retention test. This suggests that the training results were quite stable. No indication of further growth in the executive control of the selected instructional and classroom management skills was found. No significant differences in achievement were found between the pupils in classes with trained teachers and the pupils in classes with untrained teachers.In this study the long-term effects of a school improvement programme directed at schools with multigrade classes are reported. In two previous improvement studies, we assessed the short-term effectiveness of the staff development programme for teachers in multigrade classes with respect to use of classroom time, instruction and classroom management. The training programme was inspired by the findings of our research into multigrade classes (Veenman et ah, 1987). The design of the training programme was guided by research into

This article presents the results of a school improvement study (main field test) directed at schools with mixed-age classes in the context of in-service teacher education. A quasi-experimental treatment-control group investigation was designed to test the effects of the staff development programme 'Dealing with Mixed-age Classes,' and the effects of coaching in addition to the programme. Based on pre-and post-training classroom observations, a significant treatment effect was found for pupil's time-ontask levels in mixed-age classrooms, and for teachers' instructional and classroom management skills. On two aspects of instructional and classroom management skills larger gains were found for coached teachers: organizing instruction and dealing with disturbances. Time-on-task levels improved more strongly in classes of coached teachers.