Update on my BIG RANT

[Heather in Neverland]

Those of you who were part of that thread might be interested in reading this:

 

A Low-Cost Way to Accelerate High-Achieving Students

 

In this Education Week commentary article, Laura Vanderkam and Richard Whitmire bemoan recent cutbacks in programs for high-achieving students and suggest that double-promoting them (or having them take above-grade courses) is an efficient and effective way of nurturing their talents and providing academic challenge. “There is no better way to give gifted kids what they need,” say the authors, citing research on the efficacy of boosting these students up a level or two. “Acceleration is also cheap,” they continue. “It costs nothing to send a 1st grader to 3rd grade for reading, or to have a 4-year-old who is already reading start kindergarten early. If a student moves through grades K-12 in 11 or 12 years, rather than 13, taxpayers save money.”

 

Yet most schools don’t use this approach, opting instead for pullout programs in which high-achieving students engage in activities like learning about insects or myths or going on special outings. “While these programs are fun for gifted learners,” say Vanderkam and Whitmire, “you don’t have to be gifted to enjoy enrichment activities, and they don’t give gifted kids what they really need, which is academic work that challenges them to the extent of their abilities.”

 

A few schools are experimenting with acceleration. Zuni Elementary School in Scottsdale (AZ) has a one-hour block for math instruction first thing every day and students join the level for which they are prepared. About 25 are working two or more grades above their chronological grade. “If we see students getting 100s on pretests, it doesn’t make any sense whatsoever to leave them in that class,” says Kim Lansdowne, a district administrator. Acceleration avoids some of the problems of pullouts and the “gifted” label and gives students work that’s on their level.

 

The schools in Lebanon (PA) are taking a similar approach, even transporting some students from elementary to middle schools, middle schools to the high school, and high school to college. Laura Cramer, a middle-school student in Lebanon, takes honors chemistry and honors 10th-grade English at the high school, does Algebra 2 online, and is back at her middle school for lunch, history classes, and the track team.

 

“Acceleration by subject or grade may not have the same cachet as seeing 2nd graders labeled ‘gifted,’” say Vanderkam and Whitmire, “but it serves the needs of children in an uncontroversial, straightforward, and relatively inexpensive way. The only puzzle surrounding acceleration is why more districts don’t embrace it.”

 

“What Ever Happened to Grade Skipping? Accelerating the Gifted in a Time of Tight Budgets” by Laura Vanderkam and Richard Whitmire in Education Week, Aug. 12, 2009 (Vol. 28, #37, p. 36, 30) http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2009/08/12/37whitmire_ep.h28.html

 

 

It is just more ammunition for me!!

[Rosie_0801]

So what has your staff to say about such miraculous information? Or are you still putting your argument together? I think that meeting would be fun to watch so I'm glad you'll be reporting back here.

 

:)

Rosie

Edited August 21, 2009 by Rosie_0801

[TraceyS/FL]

I didn't get a chance to respond in the other thread, but I wanted to say that you the perfect position I think in that it is personal for you.

 

You, as principal, are not having your own children's needs met. The other kids willl benefit from this, but being able to make it personal will help I think. I hope that helps when you go try to make the changes-and they see that you are doing it for the good of the kids.

 

As a parent I'd much prefer the block scheduling and letting them attend the proper class than the pull out thing.

 

Good luck!

[Alice]

Interesting article. My own personal experience was that I "skipped" kindergarten, so started 1st grade at 5. I found that was never a problem for me being younger. (I've seen a lot of threads here from people who skipped or started early and did feel like it was an issue for them, for me it was fine.)

 

I also got sent to 2nd grade for reading and that was a problem for me. I hated it as I was at least 2 yrs younger than the other kids and I can still remember them teasing me and feeling like I was weird for having to leave the class every day for reading. So starting in 2nd grade they let me have my own reading group. I stayed in my own class but just read from the appropriate book for me and did my work mostly on my own. I liked that better than going and working with the older kids. In 4th grade two other girls joined the class that were at the same level and we got to work together, which was also good.

 

We also had the pull-out gifted programs which my Dad thought were ridiculous. He says he still remembers asking me what we did and me telling him that we discussed what being "gifted" meant. So in his view it was a huge waste of time as we sat around and talked about being gifted. I remember liking those programs but also knowing that mostly they were a way to get out of doing real work.

 

I think the main idea is that there are lots of ways it can work depending on the child. Every kid is different and it's great that as principal you are trying to figure out how to meet the needs of all the kids.

[Pamela H in Texas]

I also got sent to 2nd grade for reading and that was a problem for me. I hated it as I was at least 2 yrs younger than the other kids and I can still remember them teasing me and feeling like I was weird for having to leave the class every day for reading.

 

But would it have been an issue if a good percentage of kids moved around during that time? If a couple kids moved a class down and several kids moved up 2 or 3 classes. Every class would be a mix of ages.

 

When we lived in Louisiana, they tested all kids into preK, K and 1st grades. No one could skip Kindy, but they could go early, stay an extra year, skip preK and 1st grades, whatever was necessary. All grades were fairly multi-aged. I liked that.

 

The PROBLEM with these sorts of things is like another poster (Colleen? Ellie?) said. Some kids bloom later. Sometimes kids with learning differences will blossom once they get that difference worked with. My hubby was held back in 2nd grade. However, by jr high, he was advanced and needed more of a challenge. There needs to be a way to not lock-step kids.

 

Another reason I see an issue with lockstep grades even with subject acceleration (or holding back) is that generally subjects aren't 12 levels as schools have them. For example, imo, there are TWO levels prior to Algebra. So a 6yo may well have gotten the first level down but they may not be ready to move to the next level. So if you accelerate him, maybe he won't necessarily be successful starting the 2nd level. On the other hand, it may take a kid til he's 10 to click with the first level, but now he's ready to move on to the second level. We don't want him stuck back in 2nd grade math now that he's ready for 6th grade.

 

I had both these issues with my own children.

 

My daughter FLEW through math. By 3, she was easily able to keep up with 4th grade math. I was tutoring a 17yo using a couple different books and my daughter kept up just fine! At almost 7, she completed EPGY's 3rd-6th grades in one quarter. But when we moved our 7yo up to Algebra, she slowed down CONSIDERABLY. She liked playing with Algebra, but she wasn't ready for a systematic study at that level. It took her two years to get through the first text.

 

My son is like this also. He goes in big spurts. He's math intuitive, but all throughout his schooling found math difficult (though at a slightly higher level). He was asynchronous even within this one subject. So he'd have a growth spurt in one area but not overall. It made placement DIFFICULT and strange. And then he did pre-algebra one year. The next year I knew he wasn't ready to move on despite high marks the previous year. He actually struggled more the 2nd year. Then he went on to Algebra making high marks but had NO real understanding of what he was doing. We backed up again.

 

Maybe my kids are just strange? I don't know. But I can't imagine that simply accelerating them or holding them back would have worked. It certainly didn't work HERE.

 

Of course, for a child who is just a level or two ahead or behind, these things probably DO work. But I would, if I were trying to overhaul the situation, want to address issues like these as you really don't want kids held back 2 years forever if they were just a late bloomer and it isn't that the kid "isn't as smart as you thought" just because they weren't ready to continue linearly.

[Lisa in Jax]

It takes "out of the box" thinking to say, "let's have all grades do math at 8:30, and we'll just send every kid to the teacher who's teaching his level." If they did the same with reading, and science, etc., but kept kids in "age-level" classes for some things, you'd have a setup that mirrors --GASP-- real life, where kids and adults interact with others on their *ability* level for some things, and interact with others who're they're *age* for other things. What a concept!

 

It's weird that elementary schools struggle with this so much, b/c in our area, middle schools and high schools do this all the time. You go to math, english, science or social studies with others on your level ("Remedial," "Standard," or "Advanced"), and go to PE, lunch, music, etc., with your grade. Guess changing classes is too much for elementary kids to do. (Mild sarcasm.) '

 

Lisa

[Heather in Neverland]

So what has your staff to say about such miraculous information? Or are you still putting your argument together? I think that meeting would be fun to watch so I'm glad you'll be reporting back here.

 

:)

Rosie

 

I am still waiting until the test results come back because then we will know better where to put the kids if I can pull this off.

[JennC]

well, I have two perspectives on this. I like the idea - somewhat - of taking a kid out of 1st grade and putting her in a reading group in 2nd grade, if there are others like her. That is what we did at my elem in 1975.

But all day doing this WOULD be stressful for a 5/6/7 yo. A large part of going to public school is fitting in.

My son was accelerated a grade. After 2 years I pulled him out of school completely, because the other kids, even his playmates, were too mean. I don't think they were malicious; it's just the culture. My 5/6/7 yo was never compatible in the physical aspect. He is much larger than most kids his age, but with the coordination of slower kids his own age.

I think especially going back to 1st/2nd/3rd grade classroom for Reading, ex, would take an emotional toll on a child who is already struggling with subject material.

All that said, I think the concept is one of the best for accelerating children, if it is widespread and "no Big deal", at public school imo

[lionfamily1999]

Breaking down the grade/age barrier would be a huge step in allowing kids to flourish according to their own abilities (versus forcing them to fit in a box).

 

More power to you, Heather, I wish you'd have been my principal. I would've gotten more from moving ahead than I ever did going on random field trips or being forced to take random classes while I waited for my classmates to catch up.

[iwka]

Then the schedule for all of the ages (classes) would look something like:

8:00 Math

9:00 English

10:00 Science

11:00 Art

lunch break

1:00 Foreign Language

2:00 History

3:00 PE

 

:lol:

[always cookin']

is that all teachers would need to be able to teach all subjects. For example, if all students take Spanish at the same time, all teachers would need to be able to teach Spanish. Maybe it could be done with just the core subjects (English, Math, etc) and that is when the other teachers could have their breaks or supervisory assignments. Just a thought.

[lionfamily1999]

Or you could set it up like a high school, where the teachers have subjects, instead of grades.

[MyFourSons]

My sons attending a Catholic school in Wisconsin that I also taught in before we moved to Georgia. My oldest son was at a 3rd grade reading level in Kindergarten, needless to say he was very advanced in language arts. He was also advanced in math, but not as much. Because we had a small school, we were able to send him to 1st grade for reading and math, while he spent the rest of his time in Kindergarten. He really didn't have the attentiveness to go to the 2nd or 3rd grade class, but he was still accelerated in the subjects he was ahead in, and enjoyed the benefits of socializing with the children his age for the other subjects. It was also very beneficial for his 5 year old body to be in PE with other 5 year olds. This was not unusual in our school, many accelerated students were either placed in a higher grade, or they would "float" as we called it to the higher grades for whatever subject they were advanced in. Some students went to a higher grade level for the academic courses only, and then joined their own grade level for the arts and other courses such as PE.

 

Part of the reason this worked so well was because our school only had 200 students grades Pre-K through 5th, so the teachers knew all of the students very well. The older students also knew the younger students very well, as they socialized during recess and we had many school functions designed for the whole school to interact socially. It really was an ideal situation for all involved.

 

Now we have moved, and my son spent the year bored out of his mind in 2nd grade. When I tried to come up with a way that we could maybe enhance his learning, I was told that he should read more AR books and that maybe they could send some extra homework home with him. Needless to say that I am homeschooling this year in order to meet my child's individual needs, as they were not being met at the very expensive private school he was attending.

[LizzyBee]

When my oldest dd was in ps K, she was pulled out every day to go to a 1st grade reading class. The school offered electives for 1st - 5th grade students, but dd was permitted as a K'er to take 2 AG electives. I'm surprised that you would encounter resistance to this concept in a private school. Keeping fighting the fight!

[Mountain View Academy]

and this was in a PS. There were 3 teachers per grade. Math and reading were separated by level and there was an advanced, regular and those that may needmore help. The only children pulled out of class were those with learning disabilites that got special help different days of the week. It never occurred to me this wasn't how every school operated.

[Ali in OR]

At the small church school I attended, I remember going to the 4th grade class for reading when I was in 2nd grade. I also remember being given a more advanced math book to work through on my own, but without some guidance or instruction, that didn't really work out.

 

In the public school that my disabled dd attended, math instruction is by level starting in about 3rd grade. The 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade teachers each teach math and I assume if one is not as good in math, they can teach the lower levels while the pre-algebra class must be taught by someone who is pretty comfortable with it. All of the students in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade classes then go to the class for their level, so 3rd graders and 5th graders may be in the same class. They do testing to determine the math level for each student.

[talexand]

My kids go to public elementary school part time. The school tests them and accelerates a few students each year to the next grade for reading and/or math. It is a small school, pretty much one class per grade so it doesn't amount to a lot of students. The teachers block their schedules int he morning so that these kids can easily move to the other classroom. My middle son last year was in the next grade up classroom so much they gave him a permanent desk there. He had desks in 2nd and 3rd grade. They won't go more than one grade up so there are still some kids who are too far ahead and not being met. But tis still a lot more than most schools will do and it really helps. In 6th grade (school is K-6) the school has a math teacher and she teaches them special topics that year. Other schools in the district do this but only for the kids who are way, way ahead and they will bus them to middle or high school fr the classes that they need when they get to the end of the grade levels at school.

[Cera]

Is this really any different from the tracking that was done a generation ago? I have always thought children should be grouped by ability for academic subjects rather than age or some other arbitrary determiner. It makes absolutely no sense to throw 20(+) children in a room and expect one person to be able to effectively teach all of them at their ability.

 

The problem with this is that many parents believe their kids are "gifted" when that is not reality and many are not willing to accept that their kids are "behind" when they are. I can just imagine the headaches dealing with parents would cause under this type of plan.

[cougarmom4]

Our charter school tests all students at the beginning of the year to find out their math level. Math is taught at the same time throughout the school. Students then rotate to different teachers--it is a school-wide thing--they make a big point of emphasizing that you're not going to a certain 'grade' for math...but that we are lucky at our school to go to math at just you're right level of understanding. It has worked really well for my kids. If it is only one or two students accelerating from a grade, they will just stick them in with an older class, but if there is a small group, they make their own little class and hire additional teachers for the math hour.

 

This year they are also trying to do this on each grade level for Language Arts. There are three classes per grade, but each class in that grade will have Language Arts at the same time--then rotate into four groups (with an additional LA specialist taking one group) based upon reading, spelling, and grammar levels. Not a perfect system, but better than expecting a classroom teacher to reach all varying levels of ability.

 

A great resource on this subject of grouping gifted students is Susan Winebrenner. She actually suggests Cluster grouping--placing all gifted students of a grade in one class together. If you can't find any info online, I'd be happy to send you a few articles I have of hers if you pm me your email address.

 

I hope you're able to make things work!