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[quote=Anonymous]I just read a fascinating article in yesterday's Washington Post that speaks to SEM and IB etc. indirectly: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/once-criticized-as-racist-student-grouping-sees-spike-in-schools/2013/03/18/f71ffb76-8fee-11e2-9173-7f87cda73b49_story.html
It discusses the difference between "tracking" and "ability-grouping", which both have seen something of a comeback, it seems. From what I've seen at Hardy, SEM (school-wide enrichment model) is more about "tracking" and from what I've seen in IB presentations and school visits, IB (International Baccalaureate) is more about "ability-grouping". These emphases aren't mutually exclusive.
Both these models, as far as I understand, are student-centered, meaning student engagement and discovery is high up on the agenda, and so I'd imagine is participation. The same goes for expeditionary learning practiced at Two Rivers (and Cap City I believe). (I don't know enough about Latin to put it on the map here.) That would probably set all of them apart from Basis' approach, which places a stronger emphasis on moving through material, with a lesser emphasis on participation, engagement, and guided discovery (necessarily so and by design).

Being in the midst of reading up on all of this because we're looking for the right fit for our emerging middleschooler makes me realize how much one should know about all of this as well as about what one's own child is good at and thrives with. I therefore can't take comments like the one about Hardy (fights and all) very seriously. That misses the point. Of course, a school has to be safe and well organized or else this is all meaningless. But I'm thoroughly convinced that the pursuit of a consistent learning model that engages kids wherever they are and that meshes with how they learn is the best grantor for focus, commitment, and discipline. Middle school is all about learning to cope with that.[/quote]

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