nongraded school

A nongraded school is an educational approach that eliminates traditional grade levels. Instead, students are organized into "phases" for each subject and progress at their own pace. This system aims to address the rigidity of graded schools, where students are grouped by age and advance together annually.12

The concept of nongraded schools emerged in countries like the United States as an alternative to age-based grading and streaming by ability. While the effectiveness of wholly nongraded systems is not definitively proven, some schools combine elements of grading and nongrading to balance flexibility with the benefits of age-based grouping for social and extramural activities. In contrast, an ungraded school typically refers to a one-room elementary school with a single teacher and no grade classification.13