DD is in a "gifted cluster group" and when the regular lecture is too boring for the gifted kids, the teacher tells them to get out their "enrichment packet". So while the teacher is lecturing to the other kids, DD is supposed to work on her own on the packet. She could easily spend 30 min. staring at a problem that could take 30 seconds if there had just been a little bit of advanced instruction or hints from the teacher. Once she finally gives up and turns it in, the teacher writes back "Try again", and might write one vague hint. And then DD spends another 30 min. staring at the problem. Meanwhile the rest of the class (those not in the cluster group) are actually learning math from the teacher. DD also gets to pick "enriched books" to read during independent reading time. So 5th grade level books instead of 3rd grade. There is no instruction on the books, no ability grouping for reading. That's what the gifted "cluster grouping" is --independent work a couple times per week and she gets to choose 5th grade novels instead of Magic Tree House to read on her own. Why they even put those 4 gifted third graders with the same teacher in the same class, I have no idea. They don't meet as a group and don't interact, and there is no direct instruction.
This is almost exactly what my ds was going through in 4th grade last year.
The teacher basically said she hated it but she could only give my son a work sheet and say "here smart kid figure it out yourself". She said this at an EOY meeting that included the likely suspects including the director of curriculum, middle school and high school principals, middle school and high school math teachers and 2 other elementary school principles. you could hear a pin drop.
The bad part is my kid is the one with his hand up every time all the time.
