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Category Archive: Education
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Skill-level Grouping, Not Grade-level Grouping
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Forget about students spending one year in each grade, with the entire class learning the same skills at the same time. Districts from Alaska to Maine are taking a different route.
Instead of simply moving kids from one grade to the next as they get older, schools are grouping students by ability. Once they master a subject, they move up a level. This practice has been around for decades, but was generally used on a smaller scale, in individual grades, subjects or schools.
via Some schools grouping students by skill, not grade level – USATODAY.com.
KCMO is trying this because the district has been failing for years, despite the billions of federal and state dollars that have been flowing into the district.
But, if the economic situation was better, I don’t think schools like the KCMO school district would be trying this. However, engaged citizens have known for years that the current model of learning is outdated.
The present model of education is better suited to making widgets on an assembly-line or harvesting crops on a farm. We need a model that promotes creativity and critical thinking, ideal skills for STEM careers that we so desperately need in the United States.
I’m glad that districts are starting to wake up and realize that things need to change quickly.
Tagged Alaska Maine, KCMO, STEM, United States
Acceleration and Gifted Kids: Another Myth
Acceleration is one of the more hotly debated areas of gifted education. And yet, the research is clear – acceleration does not inherently hurt or damage the social development of gifted children (Kulik, 2004). In fact, many gifted children benefit from the exposure to more challenging work.
via More on myths: Acceleration and Gifted Kids « An Intense Life.
Acceleration is hard for administrators to track, messes up test tracking, etc. However, all of these are tired excuses that administrators use to discourage acceleration. If a district won’t do a complete grade-level acceleration, try a subject-level acceleration and if that is successful, push for grade acceleration.
Bottom line: gifted students must remain engaged in learning or they won’t reach their full potential.
Class Warfare: “Stupid Class” v. Gifted Class
Gifted education is not a reward for white children and a way of punishing kids by putting them in the “stupid class.” It’s an educational intervention for children who need it. Maybe if we keep saying that often enough, the message will get through.
I agree with Laura Vanderkamp’s assertion that “In general, it’s better to have a smaller, more targeted gifted program than a huge one that ropes in students who just happen to score in the top 25%.” If 25% of a student population is “gifted”, then the program needs modified so that the percentage of gifted students reflects statistical findings.
As a parent, I’m tired of gifted program being seen as ‘elitist’ or ‘only for white kids’. If educators and administrators think this way, the kids are going to think this way. This way of thinking undermines education for all students.
Tagged Gifted, Laura Vanderkamp