Volume 30. No. 17 January 19th, 2011
The article entitled "School Restructures Student Grouping" is about grouping students in the classroom by ability for efficeintly run academia. This type of teaching is an experiment for this school to see if grouping really is better. The experiement is being conducted at Park Preparatory Academy in Detroit, Michigan.
The school discusses recent budget cuts to their school and labor-management relations contentious. Because of this they had to try something new. So, they now group their students according to their level in a particular subject. This method of grouping similar abilities has been refered to as differentiated instruction. It is said that this type of grouping helps those students who have struggled to grasp key concepts and may at risk of getting even farther behind. This school also adopts a teacher run school in which case the teachers take on the budgeting and management duties that are normally done by an administrator.
Another new approach by this school is that the students have personalized schedules. This is supposed to help the students stay more engaged in their work and minimize their frustration. With the personalized schedule the students are grouped by whether they need more of the basics, more intensive or more in depth instruction. Basically the teachers are targeting the same standards but the difference is in the breadth and depth of how the material is taught. At the end of the school day the teachers meet and decide if any students need a change in where they are grouped according to their ability on any given day, week or month. If needed students will be changed to a group that better fits their needs. It is said that this sort of grouping is more like having an IEP for each student. Mointoring of progress of this program is still underway as it is a relatively new program. The staff at this middle school are hopeful that with progress shown they will be able to continue their program next year.
I really enjoyed this article because it is a real life example of my teaching philosophy. I personally believe that their must be a way to differentiate instruction for all students, not only the ones on IEPs. I think that grouping as long as it is equitable is the best way to teach students. I know for myself I learn much better when I am taught information at a level I understand and with peers who are at a similar level.. I certainly wouldn't want a professor to make his lecture simpler than it needs to be to accomodate the lower acheivers in a class. At the same time I would not want to sit through a lecture that teaches to the highest level learners in the class, leaving the rest of us lost. Most times in public school the lessons are taught to accomodate the lower learners. This is a diservice to the other students, but if you are going to blanket teach (teach the same way to all students) then you would have to make it simpler rather than harder to see student acheivement and progress. I think grouping by ability makes much more sense. In the school I work at, I use differentiated teaching during learning lab for efficientcy. I group those with similar assingments (and similar ability) together. Then I can lecture and work with this group knowing that they are all about on the same page. If confusion occurs it is usually something the whole group can benefit from further explanation. Overall, this is a great method of delivery and I plan to use often in my teaching career.
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