Regarding puffin's post about ability grouping… there has been a trend at some of the private schools in our area to do "flipped" classrooms… the kids watch a presentation by the teacher explaining what they are teaching them for homework, then students work the problems in the classroom with their groups and the teacher. So they learn the basic idea the night before then practice by doing problems in the classroom.
FWIW, these were a trend in our public schools, as well. They worked for DD, but I'm not sure if they would work for all kids.
One of the aims of the "flipped" classroom was to help create
equal outcomes by not allowing interested, involved parents to see what their children were working on, thereby avoiding the possibility of some children receiving parental supervision, guidance, or assistance with homework.
Meanwhile, "flipped" classrooms were often promoted as having children do their homework in the teacher's presence so the teacher would know who was struggling, and what concepts they found difficult, so the teacher could help them. I find this highly implausible, as a teacher would not typically have time to observe and tailor individual help to multiple pupils during the class period.
