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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Then normal practice in schools with a lot of struggling kids is to evenly distribute the “easy” kids (those ahead of grade level with no education issues) evenly in each classroom....[/quote]

Schools are not allowed to group kids by levels, it is a violation of federal law. In the past, grouping by level would lead to all the kids with IEPs in one class making it harder for one Teacher to meet their needs. Distributing different level kids in each class is meant to even out the time that kids get from a Teacher. It is also thought that kids who are less motivated might be driven by a desire to catch up to peers who are more advanced. One of the reasons that there is a requirement for gifted programs in every school district is because it has been noted that there are kids who are able to produce above grade level and need more attention for that reason. It is the same reason that there are special classes for kids with more severe emotional/educational needs. [/quote]

Huh?  Schools can cluster kids, as long as overall the classrooms are relatively balanced.  Reading groups are one compelling reason to cluster kids, since it would not be efficient for the teacher to have reading groups containing only 1-2 kids.  Sometimes, ESOL kids are clustered, so the ESOL teacher can more easily be present to help them.  My gen ed kid is in a 27 person classroom, that has a cluster of the 6 highest readers in the grade as well as a cluster of about 8 ESOL kids who are multiple years below grade level.[/quote]

As long as there is balance. The one poster who said the 12 strongest readers were split into two groups of 6 instead of keeping all 12 of them in the same class. No Teacher has all the lowest achieving kids or all the highest achieving kids, which is what I meant by grouping kids by level. In schools where there are fewer kids that are above grade level, they will have fewer peers in their class because the 6 kids who are above average will be spread out among the 2 or 3 or 4 classes instead of being in one class as a group.

For kids at an UMC school this is not a huge deal because a school with 100 kids per grade is likely to have a high number who are above grade level in something like reading. This is because their parents are likely to have read to them, or had a Nanny or sent them to a daycare that read to them or even both. The kids will likely have been exposed to books and reading and math through extra activities with their family. So there are likely to be a higher number of kids in the highest reading group. My DS is in second and getting level II services for reading and math. His reading group has 5 kids in it. There are 4 second grade classes. I 100% expect that the other classes have a similar number. But at a Title 1 school, where kids are likely to have had far less exposure to reading, there might be 5 advanced readers across the entire grade. They would benefit from being in the same class but they are not allowed to be in the same class.

It is one of the reason that creating a local level IV at each school and considering the top 10% for each school would make sense. The curriculum would have to be a bit different for each school, based on where the kids are, but I wouldn't be surprised if the kids at the Title I schools could close the gap when given proper attention from an advanced class setting.[/quote]

Well said.[/quote]

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