Since you asked, here is the situation for my 5th grade DD10. Her situation this year is why I couldn't sleep at 4 a.m.!
After a fabulous 4th grade year, 5th grade is starting off horribly for my DD. She was in the lower grade of a combination class in both 3rd and 4th, being differentiated to the higher grade level in both reading and math. Now that she is in 5th, not only is she not getting challenged, she is being set up for failure. (And to make matters worse, her homeroom/math/science teacher just went on maternity leave for 2 months.)
First, the teachers have set up small groups within the classroom to compete against each other. Because of the makeup of these "teams", there is no way my daughter will ever be in the successful group, and the teams are to be in place, as is, until the end of the school year.
Second, she is no longer being challenged in reading. Her previous 2 teachers used a "literary circle" model for reading where they were taught from novels. The 5th grade teacher is putting no effort into the curriculum and is using an on grade-level reading book. Then, on the other had, the teacher is trying to strictly follow the STAR reading guidelines and tell my DD10 she cannot read below a 6.5 grade level for Accelerated Reader. The problem with limiting her AR reading is that many of the books in her interest level (including ALL of the books for Battle of the Books competition) are below her STAR reading level. My DD feels like she just can't win.
Well, that's enough venting although I could go on further.
On the flip side, the long-term sub for the math teacher came in for the first day, looked at the math enrichment curriculum and said "This is too easy. I'm going to have to get harder material." Then, she finished the lesson early and taught them something above grade-level. Can't we keep her the rest of the year?
