The question: To loop or not to loop?

Eden Prairie School District's recent ruckus over looping -- assigning students to a team of teachers for more than one year -- probably raised eyebrows in St. Louis Park, Chaska, Shakopee and Woodbury.

In those communities, parents and educators are happily using looping -- and even clamoring to save it from budget cuts.

"Now that I've had both my students experience looping, I know that this is a critical and valuable teaching tool," St. Louis Park parent Carolyn Cleveland said in an online petition.

But the resistance in Eden Prairie -- a district with high standardized test scores -- raises questions about whether it's a feel-good fad or real education reform.

"Common sense suggests that if educators stay with students for a couple of years, there are several benefits," said Joe Nathan, director of the University of Minnesota's Center for School Change. "Teachers don't have to spend several months getting to know the students. Families and students get to know educators' expectations and can build a closer working relationship."

Eden Prairie parents who packed district meetings in recent weeks said they don't necessarily object to looping, but want to be given a choice.

Following a series of public dust-ups, the district decided to implement looping for its current fifth-graders next fall.

Meanwhile, more than 80 St. Louis Park parents have signed a petition to save looping at the junior high because it could be axed as part of about $1.3 million in cuts to the 2008-09 budget.

"I admit I was skeptical about looping until I saw it in action with my current sophomore," Cleveland said.

Although looping isn't new, experts are still debating its effectiveness. In 2005, Penn State University compared two years of test scores, attendance rates and teacher ratings at two Pennsylvania elementary schools. One looped, the other didn't. No real difference was detected.

But metro school officials said they've seen benefits.

Minneapolis has used looping in middle schools for more than a decade, said Dorothy Hoffman, curriculum and instruction director. The district doesn't have quantitative data, but Hoffman said it's considered to be a "best practice."

Amy Have, a teacher at Minneapolis' Olson Middle School, said having contact with the same teacher can help students retain topics from year to year. She said it also helps bring new students up to speed. "We get very close to the students after three years," she said.

Valley Crossing Community School in Woodbury has used a modified version of looping in its multi-age classrooms since 1996. Kindergarten and first-grade students are grouped together as are first and second grade and so on through sixth grade.

The school is part of the Northeast Metro Intermediate District serving students from North St. Paul-Maplewood-Oakdale, South Washington County and Stillwater.

"With these strategies and concepts, we can place students where they will learn best in regard to math and literacy," Principal Mary Anderson said.

Red Oak Elementary School in Shakopee is implementing looping. After a two-year trial, only one parent and no teachers requested a transfer, Principal Mitch Perrine said.