There will likely be a new charter school opening in our area that will allow kids to work at their own pace and be grouped according to their ability in mixed-grade groups. The coordinator told me it would be structured similar to Montessori. For math, for instance, there may be several stations for kids to rotate through. Sounds perfect for most gifted kids. But does this sort of program work for kids with EF issues who are spacey, distracted, and disorganized? On one hand it seems like being up and moving around with hands on activities would help, and on the other hand it seems like it might be too much chaos.
I wouldn't. Our experience is that kids with EF difficulties do better in environments where they learn structured ways of organizing their time. The possibility of rotating through stations would be very appealing to them, but would not encourage them to learn to stick with tasks or manage their use of time.
My experience of public school for my kids is that they move about the class a lot and change activities every 15 minutes. They also have a very variable schedule. I would have found it hard as a kid.
Our kids attended a very similar school when they were in early elementary, only difference being it wasn't a new school, it was well-established. I personally wouldn't recommend it for the reasons DeeDee mentioned.
What happened at our children's school that's worth considering too - don't know that it would happen at your local school, but fwiw, the school was appealing to families for this specific reason, and a disproportionately large # of students per classroom had ADHD and other behavioral challenges than you would find in neighborhood schools. It became known among my teacher friends as the school that kids who couldn't function within a regular classroom would go to as a default solution rather than dealing with the actual challenges. This was tough both for the kids with the challenges (because they didn't have the support they needed to learn how to stick with tasks and manage their time as DeeDee mentioned) and it was tough for the students who weren't challenged with EF issues because teachers spent a disproportionate amount of time managing the kids who couldn't cope with how to manage in an environment that didn't include clear structure. My ds was extremely organizationally challenged at early elementary age (although he does not have ADHD), and he was so relieved when we finally pulled him out an put him into a more traditionally structured school.
The other thing I'd watch closely - it's a new school. It sounds good... but you won't know if they really deliver on the differentiated learning until it's been open long enough to see it in action.
Best wishes,
polarbear
I'm trying to figure out what kind of students this school will attract? Probably most kids will be square pegs and that's why they want the school, because "normal" school is not working out. Many will either be gifted, 2e or have a disability. On the other hand, it's one of the few schools that is trying to do what all/most of us on this forum are saying should be done: letting kids work at their pace, mixing grades/abilities, accelerating, etc. I think naturally the structure in such a situation has to be looser, because kids will be working on different things depending on their level. They also say they w ill have very small class sizes, like 15. Currently my kids are in classes of 25-30. I'm trying to visualize how these "stations" would work...if the kids work in groups, how do they keep them on task?
DS is currently in a non-traditional envirnoment...the school hardly has any walls. The math is very hands-on (but at least it's an actual curriculum). I asked if he has troubles focusing there compared to the last school (each classroom was a traditional box with no differentiation) and he said he is fine...he has his own table and he has chosen to be by himself and it's not noisy/distracting. When it's time for math he wanders across the room to 5th grade, works in a small group, and then comes back. So I don't know. I'm seeing if there are other options for DD and this school would go through 8th grade. So she would be in a small school environment for Jr. High with 100 or 150 kids rather than hundreds of kids, with each kid having 6 different teachers and a rotating schedule. I can't even imagine trying to communicate with 6 different teachers to try to find out what is going on.
Montessori, or any kind do program with a high level of independent work has to be *extremely* structured on order to work well because it can disintegrate so fast otherwise. Unless you can actually see a classroom in action it is hardly possible to tell whether it works well for your kids specific EF challenges. If I understand that you currently have a good option for your kids to be challenged at their level, but are looking at this for the smaller class sizes? I'd be wary if rocking this particular boat...
The school DS is in is it good fit, but DD would only have about 1 year there. She is currently in a highly gifted program but it's not really working out because I believe it's very unstructured with the "flipped math", and kids working through the book basically at their one pace while watching online videos, very little help from the teacher (because there are 25 or 30 other kids), etc. The lang. arts/social studies teacher operates the same way. The kids have piles of work and are basically just expected to work through it, but to make matters worse, they sit in groups and are allowed to talk, and the talk isn't necessarily about the work. DD acts like a space cadet there. If I had known that's how they do things I would have thought twice about sending her there. This charter program would go through Jr. High whereas the other one would end after elementary. I may keep it on the back burner and hope they get enough kids to actually start the school, and once it's established, try to see it in action.