It seems the earlier posts were about the lack of teaching by the substitute teacher; The current experience is with the regular teacher?
Yes, unfortunately, it is now the regular teacher. Since school has been back in session it has been crazy. We missed so much because of the polar vortex and 1 week of flu, it has been very hard for me to get a handle on what's been happening. Everything is now different. DD says there are reading groups and she got moved but she doesn't read any assigned book, only does worksheets. She got moved to a different math group as well. All groups have generic names (red, blue, green, yellow).
If the district was truly supportive of ability grouping they would presumably incorporate ability grouping into their communications, including the weekly update. There seems to be a disconnect or discrepancy here.
The classrooms are each ability grouped. Then they have a special G&T classroom for each grade (with foreign language instruction and accelerated curriculum). The district gives MAP 3 times per year and CogAT and then decides where students will be for the next year. Scores on MAP of 95%+ in reading & math qualifies for inclusion in either the G&T classroom or accelerated work. A high CogAT can get you the same even without MAP scores. I have no idea how this is decided which students are put in the G&T classrooms and which are just left in the regular class.
May I ask, is this a high-performing district?
Yes and very affluent.
This does not sound consistent with a school believing in ability grouping.
Is this tracking? It seems once these kids get in the G&T classroom they stay there.
Parents can help bring about change, especially if this is a public school in the US. For example, being informed of the learning outcomes for your DC's ability group in math, having a syllabus or schedule of lessons, receiving a weekly update pertaining to your DC's ability group in math.
We do have a Progress report that is updated each quarter. The report shows the skills and a number of 1 to 3 is assigned (3 being mastered, 1 needs improvement). DD got all 3's on only the 1st half of the list (for the first semester). I noticed the area she bombed out on MAP math was not listed until last and I didn't expect it to already be covered on MAP so early (measurement) and completely overlooked it. DD did not know conversion of quarts, liters, ounces, kilos, etc. I was more worried about multiplication/division/fractions. So this is what we studied (which DD did say helped her on some of the test). Other than that, we get a weekly newsletter which states which Math topic they will be working on for the week, but it doesn't seem to match what DD says her group is working on.
I do feel for this teacher in that she's back to work full-time with a 3 month old at home and I don't want to be the bad parent. She has recognized DD's high reading level. DD says she's handing out "think sheets" left and right and made the kids sign contracts that they will complete work because so many are goofing off.
But I do fear that I may have a bad reputation because of my relationship with the sub last semester and word may have gotten out.
I saw some of the kids in G&T at last year's school theater production and I really want DD to be able to interact with that group. It's depressing that they go to the same school everyday but DD doesn't know any of them and I don't really understand why. It's a large district (high school has 4,000 students) and if DD would end up going to school here, I would imagine all those G&T students from all 9 elementaries would be placed in the high level classes together along with all the other super high performers (maybe ones with 99% on everything) and DD may end up lost in the competition. This is what worries me and makes me wonder if a smaller district would be better and if we should move.
