Sadly, you are far from alone. Our principal is all about heterogeneous grouping. The only ability grouping I've seen to date is for reading - and, in DS's group, the teacher would listen to them read aloud for about 5 minutes, then give them some topic to discuss while she went to work intensively with a lower group. Um, they're 7. They don't "discuss literature," they fool around and crack jokes and poke each other.
We have a new superintendent this year, and the assistant supt. is also the curriculum director and, from what I hear, has personal experience with gifted kids - so I have (unrealistically) high hopes for change in the coming years.
