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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]That's what the cluster model is: [b]a couple LIV students in a class of mostly non-LIV students.[/b]  Was your 6th grader newly admitted to AAP?

The school year hasn't' started yet - can you switch to the center now?[/quote]

We can argue what "a couple" means - most people would say 2-3 (except when it comes to asking for a couple of M&Ms, in which case it means 5).
Cluster grouping means 5 to 9 (see [url=https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ910197.pdf]Brulles et al, 2010, pg 337[/url]). Note that in a cluster class, there shouldn't be any super low achievers at all:

[i]In the gifted cluster model, all students at a grade level are scheduled into classrooms in a way that balances ability and
achievement levels throughout the grade level. In this structure, students are purposefully placed into classrooms with no classroom
having both extremes of the learning continuum. The model slightly narrows the range of abilities in each classroom.[/i] (Brulles et al.)

This means that the identified (LIV) students are with high and medium performing students, but not low performing students.  The other classrooms have high, medium, and low, according to how this model is described in the literature.

The cluster model is, btw, the only model adopted outside of FCPS in Virginia. Except that noone actually explains to us parents what it means. You have to search the literature yourself.

I will quote from the 2010 paper by Brulles some more for the benefit of those who also weren't familar with the term.

[i]Recent national and state legislation intended to raise the level of schools’ accountability has inadvertently diverted educators’
attention away from excellence, creativity, and exploration, in favor of teaching to proficiency levels of instruction. Public
funds have followed this political vision (Brulles, 2005). Models for gifted programs, such as content-replacement, enrichment,
and self-contained classrooms, once prevalent in school districts around the country, have suffered without appropriate and
adequate funding and/or administrative attention or support. Many of these programs have even ceased to exist altogether
(Rogers, 2002). The result has been the widespread application of inclusionary practices, which is characterized as “the
heterogeneous classroom.” Under present circumstances, some leaders in the field of educating gifted learners have advocated the
use of cluster grouping along with curricula that are differentiated according to the needs of the students in the classroom (Gentry,
1999; Rogers, 1991; Winebrenner & Brulles, 2008b).

Cluster grouping represents an inclusion model that allows identified gifted students to receive services on a daily basis
with few financial implications to the district. In a gifted cluster model, all identified gifted students receive services, regardless
of their area(s) of identification, ability level, achievement, or English language proficiency level. Identified gifted students are
clustered into classrooms with a teacher who has been designated as the gifted cluster teacher for that grade. The designated gifted
cluster classroom also includes nongifted students (Gentry & MacDougall, 2008; Winebrenner & Brulles, 2008a). There is typically 
one classroom at each grade level in which the grade’s identified gifted students are clustered, creating a gifted strand in
each school that adhered to the district policy.[/i]

Very insightful, and written in 2010. "Recent national legislation" of course refers to NCLB - so we have Dubya's social justice
policies to blame for the near complete dismantling of gifted education in this country. Irony? I always knew he was a commie.

[/quote]

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