diff --git a/include/sched_priq.h b/include/sched_priq.h
index e83b5f685ad..cd3be876ffe 100644
--- a/include/sched_priq.h
+++ b/include/sched_priq.h
@@ -44,4 +44,20 @@ void _priq_rb_add(struct _priq_rb *pq, struct k_thread *thread);
 void _priq_rb_remove(struct _priq_rb *pq, struct k_thread *thread);
 struct k_thread *_priq_rb_best(struct _priq_rb *pq);
 
+/* Traditional/textbook "multi-queue" structure.  Separate lists for a
+ * small number (max 32 here) of fixed priorities.  This corresponds
+ * to the original Zephyr scheduler.  RAM requirements are
+ * comparatively high, but performance is very fast.  Won't work with
+ * features like deadline scheduling which need large priority spaces
+ * to represet their requirements.
+ */
+struct _priq_mq {
+	sys_dlist_t queues[32];
+	unsigned int bitmask; /* bit 1<<i set if queues[i] is non-empty */
+};
+
+void _priq_mq_add(struct _priq_mq *pq, struct k_thread *thread);
+void _priq_mq_remove(struct _priq_mq *pq, struct k_thread *thread);
+struct k_thread *_priq_mq_best(struct _priq_mq *pq);
+
 #endif /* _sched_priq__h_ */
diff --git a/kernel/Kconfig b/kernel/Kconfig
index 03439759880..ca227788a1d 100644
--- a/kernel/Kconfig
+++ b/kernel/Kconfig
@@ -217,26 +217,46 @@ config SCHED_DUMB
 	  results in a savings of ~2k of code size.
 
 config SCHED_SCALABLE
-       bool "Red/black tree ready queue"
-       help
-         When selected, the scheduler ready queue will be implemented
-         as a red/black tree.  This has rather slower constant-time
-         insertion and removal overhead, and on most platforms (that
-         are not otherwise using the rbtree somehwere) requires an
-         extra ~2kb of code.  But the resulting behavior will scale
-         cleanly and quickly into the many thousands of threads.  Use
-         this on platforms where you may have MANY threads marked as
-         runnable at a given time.  Most applications don't want this.
+	bool "Red/black tree ready queue"
+	help
+	  When selected, the scheduler ready queue will be implemented
+	  as a red/black tree.  This has rather slower constant-time
+	  insertion and removal overhead, and on most platforms (that
+	  are not otherwise using the rbtree somehwere) requires an
+	  extra ~2kb of code.  But the resulting behavior will scale
+	  cleanly and quickly into the many thousands of threads.  Use
+	  this on platforms where you may have many threads (very
+	  roughly: more than 20 or so) marked as runnable at a given
+	  time.  Most applications don't want this.
+
+config SCHED_MULTIQ
+	bool "Traditional multi-queue ready queue"
+	depends on !SCHED_DEADLINE
+	help
+	  When selected, the scheduler ready queue will be implemented
+	  as the classic/textbook array of lists, one per priority
+	  (max 32 priorities).  This corresponds to the scheduler
+	  algorithm used in Zephyr versions prior to 1.12.  It incurs
+	  only a tiny code size overhead vs. the "dumb" scheduler and
+	  runs in O(1) time in almost all circumstances with very low
+	  constant factor.  But it requires a fairly large RAM budget
+	  to store those list heads, and the limited features make it
+	  incompatible with features like deadline scheduling that
+	  need to sort threads more finely, and SMP affinity which
+	  need to traverse the list of threads.  Typical applications
+	  with small numbers of runnable threads probably want the
+	  DUMB scheduler.
 
 endchoice # SCHED_ALGORITHM
 
 choice WAITQ_ALGORITHM
-       prompt "Wait queue priority algorithm"
-       default WAITQ_DUMB
-       help
-         The wait_q abstraction used in IPC primitives to pend threads
-         for later wakeup shares the same backend data structure
-         choices as the scheduler, and can use the same options.
+	prompt "Wait queue priority algorithm"
+	default WAITQ_DUMB
+	help
+	  The wait_q abstraction used in IPC primitives to pend
+	  threads for later wakeup shares the same backend data
+	  structure choices as the scheduler, and can use the same
+	  options.
 
 config WAITQ_SCALABLE
 	bool
diff --git a/kernel/include/kernel_structs.h b/kernel/include/kernel_structs.h
index 463bf7b9aa2..37dc6b4128a 100644
--- a/kernel/include/kernel_structs.h
+++ b/kernel/include/kernel_structs.h
@@ -71,10 +71,12 @@ struct _ready_q {
 	struct k_thread *cache;
 #endif
 
-#ifdef CONFIG_SCHED_DUMB
+#if defined(CONFIG_SCHED_DUMB)
 	sys_dlist_t runq;
-#else
+#elif defined(CONFIG_SCHED_SCALABLE)
 	struct _priq_rb runq;
+#elif defined(CONFIG_SCHED_MULTIQ)
+	struct _priq_mq runq;
 #endif
 };
 
diff --git a/kernel/sched.c b/kernel/sched.c
index bc9a9d4cfed..636a565ed3f 100644
--- a/kernel/sched.c
+++ b/kernel/sched.c
@@ -20,6 +20,10 @@
 #define _priq_run_add		_priq_rb_add
 #define _priq_run_remove	_priq_rb_remove
 #define _priq_run_best		_priq_rb_best
+#elif defined(CONFIG_SCHED_MULTIQ)
+#define _priq_run_add		_priq_mq_add
+#define _priq_run_remove	_priq_mq_remove
+#define _priq_run_best		_priq_mq_best
 #endif
 
 #if defined(CONFIG_WAITQ_SCALABLE)
@@ -559,6 +563,42 @@ struct k_thread *_priq_rb_best(struct _priq_rb *pq)
 	return CONTAINER_OF(n, struct k_thread, base.qnode_rb);
 }
 
+#ifdef CONFIG_SCHED_MULTIQ
+# if (K_LOWEST_THREAD_PRIO - K_HIGHEST_THREAD_PRIO) > 31
+# error Too many priorities for multiqueue scheduler (max 32)
+# endif
+#endif
+
+void _priq_mq_add(struct _priq_mq *pq, struct k_thread *thread)
+{
+	int priority_bit = thread->base.prio - K_HIGHEST_THREAD_PRIO;
+
+	sys_dlist_append(&pq->queues[priority_bit], &thread->base.qnode_dlist);
+	pq->bitmask |= (1 << priority_bit);
+}
+
+void _priq_mq_remove(struct _priq_mq *pq, struct k_thread *thread)
+{
+	int priority_bit = thread->base.prio - K_HIGHEST_THREAD_PRIO;
+
+	sys_dlist_remove(&thread->base.qnode_dlist);
+	if (sys_dlist_is_empty(&pq->queues[priority_bit])) {
+		pq->bitmask &= ~(1 << priority_bit);
+	}
+}
+
+struct k_thread *_priq_mq_best(struct _priq_mq *pq)
+{
+	if (!pq->bitmask) {
+		return NULL;
+	}
+
+	sys_dlist_t *l = &pq->queues[__builtin_ctz(pq->bitmask)];
+
+	return CONTAINER_OF(sys_dlist_peek_head(l),
+			    struct k_thread, base.qnode_dlist);
+}
+
 #ifdef CONFIG_TIMESLICING
 extern s32_t _time_slice_duration;    /* Measured in ms */
 extern s32_t _time_slice_elapsed;     /* Measured in ms */
@@ -644,13 +684,21 @@ void _sched_init(void)
 {
 #ifdef CONFIG_SCHED_DUMB
 	sys_dlist_init(&_kernel.ready_q.runq);
-#else
+#endif
+
+#ifdef CONFIG_SCHED_SCALABLE
 	_kernel.ready_q.runq = (struct _priq_rb) {
 		.tree = {
 			.lessthan_fn = _priq_rb_lessthan,
 		}
 	};
 #endif
+
+#ifdef CONFIG_SCHED_MULTIQ
+	for (int i = 0; i < ARRAY_SIZE(_kernel.ready_q.runq.queues); i++) {
+		sys_dlist_init(&_kernel.ready_q.runq.queues[i]);
+	}
+#endif
 }
 
 int _impl_k_thread_priority_get(k_tid_t thread)
diff --git a/samples/hello_world/prj.conf b/samples/hello_world/prj.conf
index b2a4ba59104..240d0959a5b 100644
--- a/samples/hello_world/prj.conf
+++ b/samples/hello_world/prj.conf
@@ -1 +1,2 @@
 # nothing here
+CONFIG_SCHED_MULTIQ=y