Grouping Students by Ability Regains Favor in Classroom

CAT Tracks Editor's Note:

Nothing new under the sun...

A recycled silver bullet?

I will take exception to one paragraph"...

...a quote from 5th-Grade teacher Cathy Vail (Public School 156 in Brownsville, Brooklyn):

“It has to be done properly — you can’t make a kid feel small because they’re in group A,” her lowest-achieving group, she said. “If you don’t have a stigma attached to the group, then I don’t see the problem.”

Memo to Ms. Vail...

You may not see, you may not attach a stigma, but the kids will.

But, hey...

Kids figure figure this stuff out with or without grouping, so if it makes your life simpler, makes you feel all warm and fuzzy about yourself...go for it!

At the end of the day, the year, it's all about the test scores. If they go up, then ya done good! But, if the scores go down, you might want to change ammunition next year...