A similar thing is happening in our district with the junior high school, where they are doing away with separating kids for honors courses. Everybody can take the advanced courses and, from what I hear, the classes are watered down because kids are struggling with them that would learn better in a more normally-paced class. Labels are unfortunately sometimes necessary, especially in big school districts. It's hard to get anything done outside of the norm without a special ed label. If Montgomery is anti-label and pro-individual needs, why continue to label and group kids on the basis of their chronological age? Why not have kids grouped according to ability for each subject regardless of age, including gym? I doubt that Montgomery County will able to follow the one-room school model
