[Oz-gifted] Fw: Ability Grouping

[Alison Miller]

were alarm bells ringin?-(I should have pulled dds from a hateful school,
way before i did looking back)
alison


> Well I had my chat with the school deputy. The very first thing he threw
at
> me was social issues! I almost said typical but refrained. I did explain
to
> him that in the case of gifted kids there is plenty of research that says
> socially they cope rather well with acceleration so could we please not
use
> that as the first excuse for not considering ability grouping. I am SO
sick
> of them using 'social issues' to hold kids back.
>
> He basically agreed that ability grouping would be good. He also gave me
> many reasons why it wouldnt work in the school. Incidentally I didnt go to
> him to get it put into the school only to get some feedback on it.
>
> Reasons why not
>
> *Behavioural- He did admit it was a generalisation but said there are a
lot
> of behaviour problems in the lowest ability kids. I mentioned that we also
> get that in the highest ability kids if they are not stimulated correctly.
> He said the difference is the gifted kids are not usually violent. He also
> didnt feel that the altered education would help the kids to settle at
all.
> Even when I pointed out that the kids would be learning at their level
which
> would allow them to have successes and to shine amongst ability peers
which
> should help with boredom and self esteem issues. He just felt that
grouping
> them together would encourage all the 'bad eggs' to play off each other.
>
> *Staffing constraints- His other major issue. He doesnt have the staff to
do
> it. This I could understand but at the same time I couldnt. Ability
grouping
> doesnt necessarily mean any difference in the numbers in classes, just
that
> the classes are grouped a little differently. Right now the school mixes
> their classes as much as possible.Gifted kids spread out, behavioural
> problems or personality problems spread out. I pointed out that by doing
> this the gifted kids do not have the chance to get together with other
> ability peers, he agreed.
>
> One of the other issues was the number of kids in each ability group. He
> said in the high ability group in my sons year there would be 5 kids and
> then the difference of ability in that class would be the same as the
> differences in a normal class. I pointed out that with ability grouping it
> would still be the higher end kids in the class even if the ability range
> was quite large. He didnt see a difference between that and normal
classes.
> He also said there are a high number of kids on the lower level. He was
> using the PEAC results as a measure and apparantly there is a larger
number
> of kids on the lower levels. I asked if he felt that putting them in
ability
> groups would help to bring some of those kids up to the middle range
faster
> and he didnt agree, said normal classes would do that fine.
>
> He made a large point of saying I had a vested interest in this as it
would
> benefit my kids....I thought that was a 'well D'uh' moment! BUt I pointed
> out that I thought the system would be good for all kids. Would give those
> at the lower end a chance to shine and not be bored pretending to do work
> that is too hard, would give the mid range kids a chance to shine and
would
> give the high end kids some challenges.HE didnt agree that it would be
> easier for teachers to just program for one ability group instead of the
> whole range. Used that horrid 'open ended' learning which means they give
> the same work to all the kids and expect the kids to take it where they
> will.
>
> I went away feeling okay about it but the more I process what he said the
> less confident I feel.
>
> We shall see.
> Kristy
>
>
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