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Group students appropriately (46)
Group students appropriately based on accurate assessments (20)
Group students appropriately by ability, neither too high nor too low (10)
Group average students appropriately (5)
Regroup by ability during the school year (11)
Communicate better with parents about grouping by ability (14)
Group students appropriately based on accurate assessments:
3 Testing of sufficient ISM above grade level
2 It concerns me that children are often tested to grade level & not always to the peak of their ability.
5 All ISMs should have gray areas in all areas so that we know the students have been challenged as far as possible. [This evidently refers to the semi-annual ISM Student Profile report]
2 A child is never given an open-ended math test to see what ISMs he has accomplished. They are only tested on what they have been taught. After fighting with the teacher to give my son an open-ended test, he passed 15 additional ISMs in one session. He moved from basic addition (2+4) to multiplication that week.
9 Once student shows they can be moved to higher math class, move them! Child stuck in below level math now for 2nd semester due to administrative communication problems. Student now "bored" in class and falling behind in instruction at next level due to lack of transfer.
3 Under the current ISM system, it is difficult for students to ever move up a math group. As a parent, you're told they don't have enough ISMs.
7 Too much emphasis is placed on the CRT scores for math groupings. My son has been put in lower math groups because he doesn't do well on tests, only to be bored and nonchallenged in the lower math group.
3 Q5: Yes, provided her abilities are adequately assessed.
2 More assessments needed to better place children
8 I think proper assessment of student's ability is most important in order for that student to progress to their highest abilities. I have two other children. One was not placed properly and is now paying the consequences.
? More feedback. More assessment of potential. Otherwise students get tracked once and stay there. ISM does not test potential.
1 Individualized learning
Test to potential instead of testing to grade level!
4 Better assessment of student abilities
2 Testing of knowledge and capabilities
5 Students should be tested at levels beyond their abilities for assessment purposes, so there are valid "data points" for upper limits of each student. (I'm talking about the MCPS assessment, here!)
5 I find the lack of assessment to be very frustrating. They never test to see how far my child can go and then teach from the level that she is at. Rather they start at grade level and only give ISM assessments for things she has been "taught" by the teacher.
5 Differentiated teaching & testing -- it does not happen at [ ].
3 Students should be placed based on how their test scores come out. My child, average on tests, is doing 4th grade math which is never explained in class. I am her math teacher. She has received an A on both marking periods.
3 When they test their level: not in the beginning of the year. Maybe a month or 2 into the year.
2 Apparently there is constant individual testing/evaluation. I do not think, however, that the tester communicates with the instructor because all the children remain working on the same level regardless of the outcome of the test. In addition, I never see "tests" I only hear about manipulatives used for testing. He's learning and it's only 2nd grade, but I would like more concrete evidence.
Group students appropriately by ability, neither too high nor too low:
8 Q5: Yes. I would want student challenged but not overwhelmed
5 Q5: Yes. But I do not want my son pushed too early because twice I have had to request he be put in a slower group so he can progress at an appropriate pace and be successful.
3 Better, more appropriate grouping of students
2 Improve ability grouping.
7 We moved to Mont. County in July 2000. My child was placed in a high level math class against my instruction. I have made 4 phone calls which have not been returned. I believe she was place in a class that simply had an extra seat. I believe the math dept. needs to assess new students more carefully. I am extremely pleased with my daughter' progress in all of her other classes.
3 I would like to see more groupings. My son is too advanced for the average group but struggling to keep up with the advanced group. Also, like much of the curriculum I find the children are being asked to perform at higher & higher levels which may not be developmentally appropriate. I believe part of our struggle is that his 8 year old mind may not be ready to deal with & comprehend 4th grade concepts. Children are asked to explain how they arrive at answers but it has never been explained to them or it is conceptually beyond them. They can do it, but don't understand how or why.
3 The top math groups are very crowded, and it seems that there are even more children who can handle being in there. I think each child should be challenged as much as possible, and there should be two "top" math groups if need be. But overall I am very pleased so far with the County math program. My daughter recently took the SSAT and scored in the 99th percentile in math -- and she was in the second highest math group at [ ] -- so obviously they're doing something right. I am a little concerned that despite her high score she believes she is "not that smart" in math simply because she wasn't in that top group.
3 Q5: Yes. Although I'm not sure it needs to be as stratified as it currently is.
1 Adapt to child's ability
5 Appropriate placement of children moving from elementary to middle school.
Group average students appropriately:
3 Children should be grouped according to ability. Unfortunately, in my daughter's school, the principal decided to have only 2 groups, advanced and everyone else. My daughter needs more time to grasp concepts and the curriculum is too difficult for her.
4 Addressing kids "in the middle" who typically get placed in lower class (less challenging)
5 Grouping -- I was told my son was not in the highest grouping because there were already too many kids in the class. He's in the middle. Plain middle seems too easy whereas highest level too hard. He falls in the middle so he's hard to place. Not a good system for him.
3 At [ ], 3rd grade, there is one advanced class, very high level and two classes of everyone else -- very average basic & slow moving. There needs to be at least 3 maybe 4 levels of math. And once a child is labelled "high level" or "average," there is no movement outside of that designation again -- in other words, "once an average student, always an average student." There are parts of the curriculum that come easier to my child than others, yet he spends a lot of time focusing on the easy areas because that's what the class if focusing on. There isn't any attempt made to "re-group" within the class based on knowledge or ability. A good example is the study of time -- my child learned this in 1st & 2nd grade but yet a lot of "time" has been spent over the last 3 weeks on time. Why?
The difference in curriculum in the advanced class and the 2 regular classes is very great. The kids even talk about the "smart" class and the "dumb" classes. The advanced class actually has a textbook that students bring home to complete homework. The two average classes do not -- Why not?
1 At the high school level, the students have already been placed according to their ability. But their abilities at the elementary rote math and at the high school analytical math can be totally different. Just because a student won't memorize the multiplication tables does not mean that student cannot solve a quadratic equation. We must allow room for flexibility in placing the students.
That gifted student is going to go to MIT and they will learn math whether we teach it or not. But the "average" student is going to be designing our cars and creating our cell phone network and managing our money. They will require a solid math background and we have to make sure they get it.
Regroup by ability during the school year:
4 Regrouping by abilities more often throughout the year. Move highly able students up into higher math sooner.
3 Math is very good at my child's school, but the beginning of the school year is usually very slow and too easy. It takes too long for the various groups to be formed. Even though some repetition is good, I think too much time is lost at the beginning of the year.
3 Assess kids for math groups throughout the year & make changes.
4 I think students should be grouped by ability; however, as abilities change -- so must the grouping. It "seems" that with the current system, some students who may have advanced aren't being moved up.
4 Trying to get every child to the highest level they are capable of reaching (always keeping in mind the bell curve), so children aren't tracked passively for years on end. There should be a hell of a lot more movement between tracks than there is now!
5 Q5: Absolutely
Q14: I am in support of grouping, but the groups need to be flexible. Our school [ ] claims they are flexible, but they are in fact quite rigid. My soon is in the highest group and I have never personally had any placement issues, but many of my friends have. The criteria for grouping is not clear.
3 Needs to be more fluidity in grouping. Children should be challenged to their potential and moved as needed without parents demanding the child be placed in a higher group. Ongoing assessments and placement is needed.
5 Q5: It seems like the best solution, but children should be moved along if they understand and given more time to grasp a concept before having to learn a new one.
4 Children should be grouped & regrouped with peers at their level. These groups should be reformed for different ISM skills.
3 I think if math groups are formed with students of similar ability, they should be working in the same areas of math so fluid movement is possible between groups if a student improves performance.
2 Not too quick to move students to lower levels, which could sometimes have an adverse effect it the process isn't handled properly
Communicate better with parents about grouping by ability:
7 Inform parents what various levels are, how recommendations are made, and why. I am "very informed" because I inquired heavily about what the classes are. This is not readily available information.
6 I wish I had been consulted before my child was placed in her class this year
2 More communication with parents as to "grouping"
? More specific info about grouping should be provided to parents,. If a child is an "A" student in a low group, parents need to know. Also kids may have a range of abilities within math. It would be helpful for kids to be grouped by topic/ability & not overall math ability.
2 More communication with parents as to "grouping" -- "testing"
4 Better communication with parents about ability groupings at beginning of school year, and more info about factors taken into account when making these decisions, and by whom (this was NOT explained at [ ]. Parental intervention was required to accomplish appropriate placement.
11 Students should be grouped however. But placement tests should be given and stuck by. (NO PARENT IMPACT) Now students are placed & if parent does not agree, they put them (usually higher) where they think should be. A no win situation. Teacher has to spend too much time reviewing slower placed students. Faster paced student lose out.
2 I believe grouping children by abilities across classes is fine, but I receive no feedback from my child's math teacher since she is not our homeroom teacher.
2 Maybe a little more information on advanced math group (my daughter is in one) and progress reports.
3 It is entirely unclear whether the school is grouping students or not. They say all classes have children of differing abilities, but it is also clear that some classes are doing more advanced work. And the children talk about being in the "high" class or the "low" class. This should be clarified and there should be more communication with parents.
1 The only way that I found out that some children are being given advanced math instruction outside of the classroom is from hearing his friends talk about it. What is the criteria for getting into that class?
1 I would like my son to excel in math -- it is one of his strong areas. We need more info on grouping, etc. We think he could be doing more difficult assignments.
9 More communication with parents. Student should have taken Algebra last year. Poor info from teacher & impossible to change once they decide. Student is very capable in math.
3 We also have a 1st grade student. We are not told if she is taken out of her regular class for additional instruction at a higher level (which we believe she is). If students are being separated from their regular math instruction (for whatever reason) in 1st grade where separation is not part of the regular program, the parents should be informed of this. When is she pulled out? Who does she see? What level is she on? The only information we get is the report card grade. In 1st grade, the report card does not reflect under, on, or above grade level. Why don't parents get this information? Parents need more information on many levels!