[Oz-gifted] FW: Ability Grouping

[Michelle Gabriel]

Kirsty,
Who told you that children in WA had to stay in aged based groupings in
State schools?  Was it this principal?  

I found this unacceptable, and thought I'd go the Western Australian
Department of Education site and see what I could find out about this. I
wanted to see the wording, to see if it could be "bent".

I found nothing that said anything about kids having to be in age based
groupings, in fact, I found information that showed that WA had a Gifted
and Talented Policy (It is actually rather good) and that it also
discussed acceleration.  So your child should not have been put back
into grade one under this policy!

Here are some areas I've copied from different parts of the site.  I am
not sure if this is acceptable net etiquette - I know I should know but
I've never copied anything before to a list so I'm not sure.

"Primary and secondary school-based provision occurs within the
individual classrooms of all teachers on an ongoing basis. Additionally,
schools may develop strategies, which allow the most able students to
learn together."

So in the above it shows that ability based can happen in primary
schools in WA. 

"Developing a school-based program

A Total School Approach

School-based gifted and talented programs should reflect the schools
unique priorities, population and individual learning needs as
documented in the school development plan and as required by the gifted
and talented policy and supporting guidelines."

The above shows that schools can develop their own programs. There is
flexibility.

"Gifted and Talented
All policy and procedural statements contained within this document are
lawful orders for the purposes of section 80(a) of the Public Sector
Management Act 1994 (WA) and are therefore to be observed by all
Department of Education and Training employees."

The above was written at the bottom of each page I read.   This school
should be following these guidelines. The following was from those
pages.

"7.4 ACCELERATION

Acceleration is a placement strategy that enables a gifted student to
work within an older chronological grouping.  It is one form of flexible
provision.  The decision to accelerate any student needs to be made with
considerable care by a principal in consultation with the student,
parents, teachers and school psychologists.

The development of a range of suitable options to meet a child's
learning needs, of which acceleration may be one possibility, is
necessary in this process.

Decisions regarding permanent, full-time acceleration of younger
students in particular should proceed only after thorough and careful
consideration of the implication for the whole long-term schooling
experience of the student.  This includes the academic, social,
emotional and behavioural needs of the student.  In certain situations
acceleration may be the best option for a small number of exceptionally
gifted students.

Decisions may have to be made on behalf of younger students to address
their individual learning needs.  It is desirable that gifted students
become progressively more involved in, and responsible for, the
decisions regarding provision of appropriate education and development
programs.
To determine the appropriateness of acceleration for a particular
student it is desirable to monitor and evaluate the relevance and
effectiveness of strategies that may include learning and teacher
adjustments, such as an individual Education Plan, peer tutoring and/or
mentoring programs.  The Curriculum Framework's principles of assessment
need to be kept in mind when evaluating the suitability of acceleration;
any measure of the child's readiness to accelerate should be valid,
educative, explicit, fair, and comprehensive."
 
The above shows that there is a policy with WA with regard to
acceleration in state schools. Your child should not have been put back
into an age based class IMHO if she was gifted and had already been
accelerated.

I would be worried what this principal is trying to tell you and the
wool he is trying to pull over your eyes. He is not following policy
IMHO.

There is also information on ability grouping as well.

I learned a long time ago not to always believe what principals told me
and to do my own research. Please have a look at the site and have some
ammunition for the next time you talk to this person.  If he is the one
that told you this information, he needs to be better informed and
review the documentation available.

Cheers

Michelle G


-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 5527 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : /pipermail/oz-gifted/attachments/20051130/6ffb7410/attachment.jpeg
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/gif
Size: 73 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : /pipermail/oz-gifted/attachments/20051130/6ffb7410/attachment.gif