This Digest explores the practice of looping, a pedagogical strategy in which a teacher advances from one grade level to the next along with his or class. It describes how teachers and students in looping classes need not start from scratch every fall, learning new sets of names and personalities. By spending several years with a class, teachers can accumulate more indepth knowledge of students' personalities, learning styles, strengths, and weaknesses. Studies have shown that students in looping classes scored substantially higher on standardized tests of reading and mathematics than did students in regular classes, even when both groups were taught by the same teacher. Looping is compatible with other practices and can facilitate assessment and whole-language approaches. It can be used from kindergarten through high school, but in the United States it is most common at the primary- and middle-school levels. Older students in looping may have a tendency to form cliques, and the extended time together may exacerbate some problems that could be endured for a single year. Even so, looping is easier to implement than many educational reforms and can succeed if extra care is devoted to teacher training and to a class's composition. Contains 10 references. (RJM)