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[quote=Anonymous]The overcrowding is hardly mind boggling.  They have more students than they were initially built to accommodate.  As a result they have 4 lunch periods, instead of 3, there are always gym classes held outdoors (although in the winter kids "volunteer" for the polar bear class, so a child is very uncomfortable in the cold wouldn't be chosen), and there are kids in portable classrooms.  None of these are significant hardships.  Teachers work hard to find solutions, such as allowing snacks in class.

My kid had a good experience there.  Each subject handles advanced kids differently.  I should note that plenty of "advanced" kids have behavior problems, and that plenty of kids who benefit from on level curriculum don't.

Math: kids are grouped by level, so an advanced 6th grader might be with an on level 7th grader.  There are a few math classes that are specifically for kids at or below level like Double Period Algebra, and Geometry, which is 2 years ahead for 8th graders, won't have any struggling students.

Foreign Language:  Kids can start in either 6th if they're advanced in reading, or 7th if they're on track.  Kids starting in 7th can choose to go "half speed" or "full high school speed".  So an 8th grader might be taking 1b (if they started in 7th and went half speed) or 2 (if they started in 7th and went full speed) or 3 (if they started in 6th).

Science, English, World Studies: Are cluster grouped.  By that they mean that there are some classes where all the students are "on level", and some where all the kids are "gifted" (a very loose definition of the word), and some that are split about 1/2 and 1/2 with kids in the 2 groups covering the same content, but held to different expectations through different tests and different rubrics for assignments.

Arts, PE: heterogeneous groupings.

My son, now a 9th grader at BCC, had a great experience at Westland.
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