Are these changes based on the need to justify a greater student : teacher ratio or on actual new educational research/ideology?
The cynic in me was wondering the same thing re student/teacher ratio
FWIW, the school my children were in with a similar philosophy had all the right "talk" in place - having an open classroom with multiple ages/grades together would allow for differentiation and allow students to work at their own pace, but in reality it didn't work out at all, and without careful planning and a real motivation on the part of the school to do so, I'm not sure that an open classroom in and of itself lends itself to being any easier to differentiate in than a standard classroom situation. I hope it works out!
polarbear
