Does anyone have experience in having differentiation in the classroom actually work well for their child? Our district currently has an excellent self-contained gifted classroom but there is pressure to change it into differentiation in the classroom.
I think it won't work but I guess who knows. Our self-contained gifted class runs 1-2 grade level above the basic grade level.
My DD had a mixture... a couple hours of a pull-out GT class that ran 1-2 grade levels above, and differentiation for the rest of the day in a regular classroom.
It was a colossal failure.
Of three teachers regular classroom teachers DD had, only one actually made a sincere effort to properly differentiate for her. But because she was so far outside of the group, that differentiation was haphazard at best. It was just too much for her to maintain all year long. The one child who needed an inordinate amount of her time was also the one child she didn't need to worry about come test time.
In-class differentiation can work with small classes, where the teacher has the time to devote to those with highly individual needs. In a regular-sized class, they can only differentiate so much. As long as the child fits with group A, B, or C, they're fine. When they're the only member of group M, there's little the teacher can offer.
