she believes group work in math has value, so independent study would miss some things.
Really???? I'm really curious (seriously!) what her reasoning is on that point
I't definitely something I think you could argue
The district appears firmly in the camp of K-3 being foundational and proven, with existing differentiation being sufficient. True acceleration only begins with 6th grade ("wouldn't want to run out of math when it comes to high school"). They approach our concerns about pacing by staying within the spiraling core curriculum and offering modest enrichment/depth (informal pull-out).
This is basically what happened with us - and it wasn't great but it also wasn't horrible. The plus side was that the enrichment was actually well-done, in pull-out groups, and ds enjoyed both the projects and being with higher-ability peers than his everyday classroom. The downside (and it was huge, but we didn't really realize how huge until ds was ready to implode at the end of elementary) was that for all those years in a classroom with mixed-ability kids, ds was becoming very frustrated with the pace and depth of the class discussions. It didn't matter quite so much to him that he wasn't getting higher level work, but the class discussions where kids weren't "getting" things as quickly as he did was what frustrated him the most. Since he's a quiet kid who doesn't act out, just internalizes everything, his teachers never saw it.
[polarbear]Does anyone else ever get a little concerned about posting to a public forum that could be viewed by someone from their own school? I feel hesitant revealing even these things.[/quote]
I assume that there are folks reading here that are from my area, and I think that's a good assumption for any of us to make. On the forums I've been involved in over the years, there are often a much larger # of people who read than people who actually post, so I don't ever post something I wouldn't feel comfortable having someone I know read. OTOH, I also try very hard to not reveal too much so that if someone I know is reading, they won't know it's me
I do share more info via PM with people I feel I can trust here when there's a need to ask a specific question, and I also put more out there in public than I'd be normally inclined to when I feel that the info I have might be helpful to someone else. In the grand scheme of things, I think most of the parents or teachers I know are too busy to bother with things like reading forums or figuring out who's posting, and most of us who are here landed here because our kids were struggling in some way... which automatically cuts out most of the people I know in real life lol.
Best wishes,
polarbear
