Ability grouping is an intense topic within gifted education. Over the past few decades, various studies were conducted that promoted, and subsequently tore down, the notion of heterogeneous or homogeneous ability grouping. No matter which side of the argument you align with, developing a gifted program should always seek to be beneficial to the students and push them to reach their full potential.
Speaking strictly from a middle school teacher's perspective, there is a lot of validity in both arguments. The current model in District 6 middle school's is slightly split. Students attend homogeneously grouped classrooms for their math and English courses, and attend heterogeneously grouped classrooms for science and social studies. In this instance, homogeneously grouping students is an essential part of making sure each student is prepared for high school and, eventually, college.
Creating low, medium, and high level courses within the grade-level has made a huge difference at my school. Not only can gifted students be challenged with more rigorous material, but lower ability students can receive the modified pace they need to succeed. Teachers of our Read 180 program for ELA rave about the great strides their students have made, many of which will end on grade level by the end of the year. In this case, homogeneous grouping is making a huge impact by placing students with peers of the same ability level so that the playing field is level for each student.
One of the biggest disadvantages researches use when attempting to invalidate homogeneous grouping is the issue of self-esteem. With the 7th graders that I teach, self-esteem plays a huge role when placing them in ability-grouped classrooms. I have heard students in the Read 180 program refer to it as the "dumb class". At this point in their maturity, a student may believe that the opinion of his or her friends is more important than their reading ability. As far as gifted grouping goes, we also have an influx of parents overriding their child into a Horizons level class at registration time. While I do agree that some students need a little extra push to perform higher academically, the inclusion of regular-ability students in a gifted class can have negative repercussions. The class is no longer a true gifted class and those students that are higher level will not get the enrichment they deserve.
Speaking strictly from a middle school teacher's perspective, there is a lot of validity in both arguments. The current model in District 6 middle school's is slightly split. Students attend homogeneously grouped classrooms for their math and English courses, and attend heterogeneously grouped classrooms for science and social studies. In this instance, homogeneously grouping students is an essential part of making sure each student is prepared for high school and, eventually, college.
Creating low, medium, and high level courses within the grade-level has made a huge difference at my school. Not only can gifted students be challenged with more rigorous material, but lower ability students can receive the modified pace they need to succeed. Teachers of our Read 180 program for ELA rave about the great strides their students have made, many of which will end on grade level by the end of the year. In this case, homogeneous grouping is making a huge impact by placing students with peers of the same ability level so that the playing field is level for each student.
One of the biggest disadvantages researches use when attempting to invalidate homogeneous grouping is the issue of self-esteem. With the 7th graders that I teach, self-esteem plays a huge role when placing them in ability-grouped classrooms. I have heard students in the Read 180 program refer to it as the "dumb class". At this point in their maturity, a student may believe that the opinion of his or her friends is more important than their reading ability. As far as gifted grouping goes, we also have an influx of parents overriding their child into a Horizons level class at registration time. While I do agree that some students need a little extra push to perform higher academically, the inclusion of regular-ability students in a gifted class can have negative repercussions. The class is no longer a true gifted class and those students that are higher level will not get the enrichment they deserve.
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