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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP, my biggest concern about Norwood is the ability grouping, which takes place at a very early age. Lots of schools do it, but Norwood does it so early on, and they believe in it so much that it becomes part of the culture. Unintended problems that can arise from this like kids hanging out with other kids from their ability group, and hence the parents tend to group based on that. Also, for the first time, I heard something really concerning this year. One parent actually had her child take classes over the summer to avoid being placed in a  certain group. She found out exactly what that child needed to know by September to avoid lower groups (teachers will tell you if you ask nicely). While everyone should be trying to enrich their child's academic experience in the summer, this seemed to be a bit much. Also, once you are in a group, that's it, at least for the year, maybe forever, it is unlikely that you will get out. That was the motivation that this mother had for the extra work over the summer, she said that her daughter would never get out of the low groups once she was placed there.

If you like that style, then it is a nice place. I don't mean that in a snarky way, some people really like ability grouping. [/quote]

The ability groups aren't fixed. My kid moved from the very bottom reading group to the top one in a matter of months.

That is a sad story, though. Imo, the problem isn't ability groups. The brighter and slower kids both have special needs. The problem is, both at Norwood and other local schools, that the middle, or grade level, groups aren't challenging enough. Local privates use grade level textbooks and curricula, but most kids in local privates are functioning at least two levels above grade level. The vast majority of kids at Norwood could be accelerated at least 2 years in reading and 1 in math. Ditto every other private in the region.[/quote]

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