Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion After decade of criticism, student grouping rises

Approximately 2/3 of standardized normally distributed samples are between -1 and 1, with 1/6 below -1 and 1/6 above 1, so your suggestion would result in the middle group (-1 to 1) having 4 times as many students as the bottom group or the top group (since 2/3 = 4*1/6).

Indeed, not all will achieve like Above Average+ learners.

Here's some exciting news.

Apparently, being from a low SES and then becoming highly achieving causes you severe physical stress.

"The authors found that the socioeconomically at-risk kids who reported low levels of depression, conduct problems, and substance abuse and who were rated as highly competent by their teachers in fact showed the greatest signs of physical distress. In other words, the more kids seem to be fighting their way to success, the more their health seems to suffer."

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/brainstorm/201306/the-hidden-costs-resilience

It's psychology today so I have no idea whether it's actually good science.

DS just completed Kindergarten. He enjoyed working in his first grade workbook and also third grade math sheets when he finished ahead of the class. But I didn't enjoy seeing him do twice the amount of work than he should have. The Kindergarten math sheets came home side-by-side with the third grade ones. It was ludicrous.

We knew he'd be in for more of the same if he was re-enrolled for next year and have headed off that disaster (we think, anyway) with enrollment in a blended-grade charter for first.

Hmm...well, maybe the logic was "Just because he can multiply doesn't mean he knows how to count."

Or maybe there was a misconception about giftedness: "Gifted kids love to do lots and lots of worksheets."

I honestly don't understand it either.

Thanks for putting numbers with it. My questions is really about what prevents teachers from meeting students at their level effectively. Is it the number of students, or the discrepancies in ability? A combination? My guess it's a combination, but what is the proper weighting of those factors?

The class limits could also work in tandem:
1) No class shall be larger than 25 kids.
2) No class shall include students more than 2 SDs apart.

Students who are outside the target range of the curriculum probably also require a disproportionate amount of time, DAD22.

So I'm thinking that curriculum itself needs to not be more than one SD away, too.

Students who are outside because they are able to absorb the material can just sleep through class.

I'd say its a combination of both factors, with a third factor being the skill level of the teacher, where the relevant skills are managing instruction at different levels simultaneously AND content knowledge. In many districts elementary and middle school teachers have a K-8 certification, i.e., no specialized content knowledge. They have to learn extra to teach HG students at an appropriate level while also developing/delivering lessonss for the rest of the students.

The NYT now has an article on this, mostly about ability grouping by a teacher within a classroom, rather than assigning different ability groups to different teachers at the same grade level.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/10/e...bility-regains-favor-with-educators.html
Grouping Students by Ability Regains Favor in Classroom
By VIVIAN YEE
New York Times
June 9, 2013