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Schools

Middle School Grouping Finds its Way Back on the Board of Ed's Agenda

A discussion about grouping students based on academic ability is raising concerns throughout the community.

Just as John Leydon, chair of the Teaching, Learning, and Student Assessment committee on the , had requested last month, the discussion of reinstating middle school grouping has been placed back on the board’s agenda. Members will discuss the status of the Middle School Transformation plan and grouping of students in grades 6-8 at its working meeting Tuesday night.

Tracking students is a system that groups them based on their capabilities and skill levels. Leydon, who was elected to the board last fall and campaigned on the promise of discussing a return to student tracking, said he would also like a vote by the Board of Education on the issue. The Connecticut State Board of Education passed a resolution in February 2010 taking a stance against student tracking.

Before the start of the 2009-2010 school year, four of the district’s five middle schools used student tracking. The rationalization for grouping was that teachers could tailor instruction to the student’s needs and high-achieving students could advance at a quicker pace and likewise for lower-achieving students.

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“Ability grouping harms children in the lower groups and does not show a benefit to children in the higher grouping,” Wendy Lecker, co-president of the Stamford Parent Teacher Council, told Patch.

(Lecker spoke on her personal stance on grouping and her views are not representative of the entire Parent Teacher Council.)

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According to Lecker, research supported by both the National Middle School Association (NMSA) and the New England League of Middle Schools (NELMS) says that tracking does not lead to greater student achievement and often finds that minority students or those with disciplinary problems dominate the lower-achieving classes. 

“The data showed that children of color were overrepresented in the lower groups and underrepresented in the higher groups,” she said.

According to a statement released by The New England League of Middle Schools, the organization "believes that each young adolescent learner will be provided an equal opportunity to participate in learning experiences and to achieve success in school programs regardless of skills, race, gender, or aptitude."

Similarly, NMSA has said that placing students in heterogeneous classrooms raises the bar for students of every achievement level. “This grouping practice is associated with efforts to assure high academic standards for all students and to allow all students the benefits of access to high-level instructional practices.”

The Middle School Transformation plan, supported by Superintendent Joshua Starr, replaced this method with flexible grouping so classrooms provide a heterogeneous mix of students. In this capacity, higher-achieving students can serve as a role model or tutors to other students.

Jack Bryant, president of the Stamford chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), he is prepared to begin a lawsuit should the district revert back to grouping.

“If we continue with the grouping that we have had in the past you are not doing what you were voted in your positions to do, and that is to provide adequate education for all students,” Bryant said at a Board of Education meeting on April 26. “Grouping is a form of discrimination as it will have an adverse effect on the students that I am here representing.”  

Lecker says grouping has an adverse effect on students socially, as well.

“There’s unnecessary anxiety about being stuck in a group that your educational opportunity will be diminished,” she said.

According to Lecker, middle school is but a “three-year blip in a kid’s life,” and students have the ability to achieve at higher levels as they enter their high school years.

“Why can’t we just teach multiple abilities in one setting?” she asked.

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