[Oz-gifted] RE: Ability grouping

[Kristy]

Thanks for the rambling Michelle :)

I used swimming as an example as kids are ability grouped for lessons. We 
would not consider placing a child who cannot float in with a group of 
children who are able to swim 500m just because they are the same age.


As for allowing a child to change grouping, for ability grouping to work 
effectively for the kids there would need to be some process in place to 
allow for this. I dont think its fair to pigeon hole a child based on one 
test for the rest of their life. I see ability grouping as a way of working 
with kids at their level and in ways which suits them to get them to the 
same ending point. For high achieving kids it will allow them to reach that 
point earlier and then let them move on from there.

About the grade base, apparantly we dont have grades over here anymore 
(excuse me while I snort) As I am continually told all the year level says 
is that children in that year are the same age. Ed dept have even told me 
they will no longer accellerate or hold a child down they MUST stay within 
the age group.(which resulted in my daughter being dropped from yr2 to yr1 
when we moved from a private to a public school) Although I have had others 
inform me that we can fight to have our kids moved.

For kids that do struggle with basic numeracy and literacy I think ability 
grouping would be a major beneift. They wouldnt get lost or forgotten about 
in amongst kids that have better abilities. They would be amongst kids of 
similar abilities so they would have less self-esteem issues. As I said 
before I am sure a child would be ecstatic at being the best at something 
for a change instead of constantly being reminded that they cant read as 
good as the other kids in their class.

Tony mentioned earlier about a combination of age and ability grouping and I 
feel that would be a better option than straight ability grouping. Would 
help with any social issues if they were still with kids around their same 
ages.

Im just rambling too lol. Just figure throwing ideas around could lead to 
some good

Kristy


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Michelle Gabriel" <mbgabs at ozemail.com.au>
To: <oz-gifted at rite.ed.qut.edu.au>
Sent: Thursday, November 24, 2005 11:15 AM
Subject: [Oz-gifted] RE: Ability grouping


> Hi all,
> I think this discussion is interesting.  Some schools will use streaming
> within their age groupings, but find it difficult to then take it the
> step further and do ability grouping across ages.  Then you have the
> schools that do have multi-age classes, but only some that will truly
> use the concept to it's fullest extent ie/ if the child is working at
> the next level up let them work at it.
>
> The other problem is when I child is slow on the up take in the
> beginning of school for various reasons, will they be able to jump up
> once they have shown their ability later on, or will they be "classed"
> as one ability for the rest of their school life?
>
> You also have the problem of kids that are accelerated, then not being
> the shining lights anymore and being upset because they are not at the
> top of the class anymore, or if they are, not being celebrated because
> they jumped grades and still were near the top. (I know of one boy who
> has jumped 3 grades who was devastated as another boy who only jumped
> one was the top of the class and got the prize above him - I wonder how
> the other kids in the grade felt who were the top of the class before
> these kids came along felt?)
>
> If it was ability grouped, then these types of problems couldn't exist
> because it would actually be more equal for all rather than equal by
> age.
>
> I think swimming was used as a example, but it isn't really ability
> grouped, it is in the training, but not in the competitions. In racing
> you are still grouped by age, and then it seems unfair if you are the
> youngest because of the cut off in the competition.  At school the age
> group is usually January to December, where as in a state comp I think
> it is your age on the date of the competition.  So at school a child who
> turns 13 in November 06 would still be under 13 in the January 06 State
> comps, but would be in under 14's in the February School Comps as she is
> 13 that year.  So she may win her State comps due to age, but not the
> School comp as she may be against kids who are 11 months older than her.
> (But this is getting off the subject - sorry).
>
> You would also have the problem of starting age.  Would schools or
> guidance officers "test" all children for school readiness and would the
> pre-test all kids each year for what ability group they should be in?
>
> What happens when a child was at the bottom ability group and then
> worked their way up through the year but as they were in the bottom
> ability group at the beginning of the year, they may have missed some of
> the work that the top ability group was doing, so then they were put
> down again because the failed the exam at the end of the year (Sorry
> this happened to me 3 years in high school in maths, was very
> frustrating).
>
> Would ability grouping be still grade based?  What happens at the other
> end of the spectrum when you have kids that never really can get past
> basic maths and English?  Do they stay in grade 2 even though they are
> now 10?
>
> I like the idea of ability grouping, I just wonder how to get it across
> the board without affecting/ offending people.  May be it could be
> accelerated classes and normal classes.  Different learning style
> classes?  I don't know.  I'm probably rambling, just letting my thoughts
> be written down.
>
> Cheers
>
> Michelle G
>
>
>
>
>
>
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