To Loop or Not to Loop–That is Not a Question!

“Looping is so wonderful because we get to know both students and parents for two years. We also get to make long-term goals for students and watch them grow over a two year span. I also love after first grade and going into second grade, students come into the loop so much more comfortable and ready to begin the year…you don’t need to take a month learning routines and rules like you do in a first year.”

GENNA ROEGNER, 1ST AND 2ND GRADE LOOP TEACHER

Looping, the practice of keeping the same students and teacher together in a class as they move through to the next grade level, is implemented in our Lower School. In the first and second grades and in the third and fourth grades our students remain with the same teachers and classmates for two consecutive years. Looping in schools has been viewed as beneficial for both students and teachers, and now a new study from the Annenberg Institute at Brown University (Second Time’s the Charm? How Sustained Relationships from Repeat Student-Teacher Matches Build Academic and Behavioral Skills) strongly reinforces the positive aspects of looping.

We practice looping with the goals of

• forging strong bonds and trust between students and teachers
• enabling teachers to acquire a better understanding of their students’ needs and learning styles
• building strong partnerships with parents that strengthens the home/school connection
• improving consistency in curriculum implementation and academic/social emotional skills 
• easing transitions and lessening the weeks of adjustment to a new routine of classroom rules, schedules, and expectations
• providing consistency and lessening adaptations to a new routine

An article entitled, “Staying with the same teacher benefits students, research says” published in Chalkbeat states “A new study from the Annenberg Institute at Brown University, adds to a growing body of evidence in support of looping, redrawing attention to the positive effects on student performance both academically and behaviorally.”

The study analyzed seven years of the Tennessee state test results showing that the test scores of an average child who experienced looping with a repeat student-teacher match went up in math and English. The authors of the study pointed out, “It means that there is plenty of room for the impact of repeat student-teacher matching and looping to grow,” the authors said. “If schools were to implement looping in a more purposeful and intentional way we think that, if anything, our results might understate the potential . . . it also says something larger about the fact that relationships between teachers and students are important.”

The Annenberg study concluded that “Caring relationships between teachers and students foster a sense of belonging for students and create classroom climates where students are poised to do their best learning. Repeat students and teachers have more time to get to know each other’s teaching styles and learning needs, as well as to develop stronger, more trusting relationships.”

Looping is beneficial to students, teachers, and families alike. It allows everyone to form a trusting relationship, and teachers and students get to know each other very well. We as teachers have the privilege of tracking our students’ progress and achievements during two very important developmental years.

COOPER BALLANTINE, 3RD AND 4TH GRADE LOOP TEACHER

Looping is one way that The Willows emphasizes connections and the importance of the student/teacher and teacher/parent relationships while fostering the maximum academic, creative, and social emotional learning.