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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]DCPS follow the school-wide enrichment model, so something like tracking into a different class is not officially allowed. This is something I would expect a student’s teacher to be able to accommodate through small group instruction. DCPS is shifting to a big push for a focus on math, so math instruction will likely look different in the coming years.[/quote]

It may be that different schools accommodate differently, but at my kid's school there are definitely some kids who get special pullouts for advanced study and even some who attend classes with a different grade level. My kid is in K at LT. The large majority of instruction is group-based for both math and ELA and there is a huge gulf between what the top group is doing and the bottom group. But, on top of that, I know that sometimes kids in the top reading group get pulled by the school's reading coach for instruction outside the classroom. Then there is also one student who goes to 2nd grade for math. [/quote]

Thanks for naming the school. I don’t understand why no one else will; most posts contain almost no personally identifiable info. Anyway, good to know LT seems to offer at least some true differentiation. How did the K kid who goes to second get picked for that?[/quote]

The way it works at our school is they do the beginning of the year diagnostic testing (iReady or MAP or whatever).  Then they try to form groups within the class. Ideally you'd have a group within the classroom, even if it's a very small group, and avoid having to do a room transition-- I've never understood why people are so thrilled that their child wastes time walking down the hall. If you don't, they look for kids at a similar level in the next year up, and the year after that. Of course, this all has to work around class schedules too-- so you're looking for a class that has well-matched kids and also has the subject at the same time of day. My DD was able to do this in PK4 only because she was a non-napper, she literally took zero naps ever since starting PK3, so she was able to go to the K room for math during nap block.

[b]A lot of little kids have high reading fluency, but their comprehension and ability to respond in writing isn't that great, so they would have a hard time in a higher group, and it could be hard socially and they won't be able to meet the attention span and behavioral expectations.  So again, the ideal thing is to be with kids of similar age AND similar ability so that the placement will be socially and developmentally appropriate as well as academically beneficial[/b]. [/quote]

This is exactly right. A lot of smart kindergarten to second graders are way ahead on reading, but almost none are equally ahead on writing. Unless your first grader can respond to questions in correctly written multi-sentence paragraphs, then they should be doing grade level work. It’s public school, some content will be easier than other, but most kids still have learning to do. I would focus on having the teacher work on that with your child, not assume that their classroom isn’t the correct place to be. [/quote]

The teacher cannot work on that with my kid because she is focused on teaching kids who cannot read to sound out words. There are more of them, and it is a much higher priority. I would love for the teacher to be doing that. [/quote]

Our Title 1 has either two teachers or a teacher and full time aide per grade, plus they bring in the subject matter learning specialists for above and below grade small groups. Never have had more than 18 kids per class. Perhaps you need to find a school with a different administration that focuses on different priorities.

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Or my kid can just go to a different classroom for some subjects....[/quote]

Well for us, I prefer this system. My kid is advanced, but inconsistently so. If she’s 3 levels ahead in reading but at the high end of grade level for writing, the next grade level up is better, but still not exact. Small groups give more customization than grade level work a full grade ahead. But nothing is ever exactly perfect and what works, works.[/quote]

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