I was placed in a classroom like this when I was in sixth grade. The theory was, I think, that we could tutor the other kids and the teacher would have more time to work individualy with them since we could pretty much teach ourselves. In practice, it worked out that the gifted half of the class had a body of assignments that we had to complete by the end of each grading period, and we had relative freedom on how and when we completed them, with lots of in-class time allowed for working on independent projects and on the school newspaper, which the combined class published (somehow, all the gifted kids ended up in editorial positions...hmmm). So, nearly all of us ended up turning in a stack of 6 weeks worth of assignments each grading period that we all had completed in class the day they were due, and spending the rest of the time talking, reading, drawing, and working on the paper. I think that was the only year they did that particular educational experiment at my school.
