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Posted on Thu, Aug 2, 2012 : 11:43 a.m.

New state report cards target many high-achieving Ann Arbor schools for improvement

By Cindy Heflin

Editor's note: This article has been updated to include the names of several schools listed as reward schools and to note that it was in math that Skyline High School failed to test enough economically disadvantaged students and students of two or more races.

New school report cards released by the state of Michigan Thursday put most Ann Arbor Public Schools, despite overall high achievement, into a new category targeted for improvement.

The new Focus school category targets for improvement schools that have sizable gaps between the highest- and lowest-performing students. The 10 percent of schools with the widest gaps are added to the group. They are to receive support to diagnose and correct the gaps with an eye toward getting all students on track to be considered college or career ready.

Schools on the state’s list of Focus schools included Pioneer and Huron high schools and all its elementary schools. Both are high-achieving schools that met all targets the state requires of schools to earn the designation known as adequate yearly progress.

Ann Arbor schools joined many other high-achieving schools across the state on the list, including those in Troy, Novi and West Bloomfield.

060311_schoolbusing.jpg

Pioneer High School students board buses in this file photo. The school, a perennial high achiever, found itself on a list targeted for improvement on new state report cards.

Jeffrey Smith | AnnArbor.com

Community High School, a perennial star, made the state’s list of Reward schools. Reward schools are either listed in the top 5 percent of the state’s top-to-bottom list, are among the top 5 percent of schools that made the greatest gains in achievement or are “Beating the Odds” schools, those that overcoming traditional barriers to student achievement and are outperforming schools with similar risk factors and demographic makeup.

Community as well as Burns Park, King, Eberwhite and Wines elementary schools are in the top 5 percent of the state's top-to-bottom list as is Clague Middle School.

Also on the reward list from Washtenaw County are local charter school Central Academy; Dexter’s Bates and Cornerstone elementaries; New Beginnings Academy, also a charter school; and Saline High School and Saline's Harvest Elementary School.

Other districts in Washtenaw County also had schools on the Focus List. Among them are Heritage School and Pleasant Ridge and Woodland Meadows elementary schools in Saline; Mill Creek Middle School in Dexter; Beach Middle School, North Creek Elementary and South Meadows Elementary in Chelsea; Bishop Elementary School and Lincoln High School in the Lincoln district; Milan Middle School and Paddock Elementary School in Milan; Ypsilanti High School; and Willow Run High School.

All Ann Arbor Public Schools except Skyline High School and Ann Arbor Technological High School met the adequate yearly progress standard. Skyline failed to test a high enough percentage of economically disadvantaged students and students of two or more races in math, the state indicated.

Ann Arbor Tech failed to test enough students in general and enough economically disadvantaged students, the state indicated.

The state also released what is expected to be its final Education Yes! report card, where schools are assigned a letter grade for meeting a series of goals. The Education Department has proposed a new accreditation system, but it has not been approved.

Many schools saw a drop in their grades because lawmakers have not approved changes after the state raised its testing standards.

This year, 201 schools received an A, 710 earned a B, 1,720 received a C, 243 earned a D and 4 were unaccredited.

To see data about your child's school, go to the Michigan education data portal page and click on school report card in the navigation bar near the top.

Comments

15crown00

Sun, Aug 5, 2012 : 4:44 p.m.

ok now the state just needs to provide more bucks

Donna

Sat, Aug 4, 2012 : 12:56 a.m.

Community High has an outstanding special ed staff.

Ethics Advocate

Fri, Aug 3, 2012 : 1:22 p.m.

A key to some of the the AA schools' diversity is the children of U-M graduate schools. For example, at the College of Engineering, more than half of the graduate students are Asians. Angell Elementary School, where I formerly had children and now do volunteer tutoring, is outstanding. But a very large percentage of the students are foreign and some speak very little English when they are enrolled. The same would be true for some of Huron students who wouldn't be able to enroll in Community High School.

jns131

Fri, Aug 3, 2012 : 1:02 p.m.

If you want children to do better in K and feel it is the parents fault, look no further then when children CAN start K. Eliminate the cut off. What they need to do is test the children entering K and see if they can handle K or not. These stats that say children will become under achievers in hi school is labeling them for failure. Mine was a young K and is doing very well in school. Is handling it and this is why I hate it when people blame the parents for childrens failure at a certain age. So, instead of K? How about preschool? Lets put the pressure on preschool. Yes, parents need to help the child, but lets not blame the parents for not doing enough to start them off right at K? Do what Great Britain is doing now. Start them off at age 2 or 3 and send them off to college or a job at age 16. I think they have the right idea. So, to put it mildly? If the pressure is on at K? Lets do at the Preschool level. 5 days a week for 6 hours.

Gardener1

Fri, Aug 3, 2012 : 3:08 a.m.

I do not understand what the state has against Skyline High School. It had an 87%. What is the explanation of failed to test a high enough percentage of economically disadvantaged students and students of two or more races in math? Is it because a higher percentage of economically disadvantaged students and students of two or more races in math in the Skyline area have math disabilities such that they were exempt from being tested by using that test due to their IEP's? Skyline offered after school tutoring for students to help them prepare for the state tests. Many students participated in this program. The teachers participating were committed to helping the students and were very encouraging.

Angry Moderate

Fri, Aug 3, 2012 : 2:23 p.m.

It's not a criticism. It just means that they didn't test enough disadvantaged students to have a valid statistical result (or maybe to average enough scores together to protect the students' privacy).

Basic Bob

Fri, Aug 3, 2012 : 3:16 a.m.

Sounds like they cheated and got caught. Again.

Jonelle Gillette

Fri, Aug 3, 2012 : 2:14 a.m.

This plan definitely does not work and has a kumbaya tone to it. For heaven's sake lets create all average students! Lord knows we need ALL average students to compete in today's world when we are behind already! We will all be happy but won't have anyone to build rocket ships and computers. (More sophisticated than an abacus). "Kumbaya.....kumbaya.....kumbaya"!

J. A. Pieper

Sat, Aug 4, 2012 : 10:47 p.m.

Jonelle, I agree with your second post totally, As teachers we can't make children learn, we often spend lots of time with the struggling students, and once we leave them to work with others, they stop working. We can't sit by the achievement gap kids all day, we have an obligation to all students in our classroom. Tax paying parents who send their children to public schools expect this, and this is what we are hired to do. When a first grader refuses to do work and says that him mom tells him he doesn't need to follow directions of anyone at school, what can we do? You better believe we keep trying! Think about this situation related to other jobs - is the heart surgeon held responsible when the patient refuses to give up smoking, or eating un healthy foods? Is the car repair person held responsible if one never does routine maintenance on their car? Is the dentist blamed when someone never brushes their teeth. Is the vet responsible when a pet dies from heart worm, the owner never doing the preventative medication? Is the bank held responsible if a person continues to write checks and not have money in the account to back it up? You know we could go on and on, these situations demonstrate the need for educating the person causing the problem, just like in public education!

Jonelle Gillette

Fri, Aug 3, 2012 : 5:23 p.m.

The old bell curve is pushed farther and farther in the background. The new philosophy is that we should "save" everybody. Actually we have been trying to "save" everybody. The achievement gap has been around as far as I can remember. In my opinion there is always going to be a gap. There is always going to be those students that are gifted, average, or challenged. There are just some students that no matter what is presented to them or how much help is offered simply choose not to learn. Because of free will there will be those that will want to do it "their way". What education tries to do is "change" them when some just don't care for whatever reasons. So our focus becomes on that segment of the population and while those that want to learn are impacted the most. It's not that we don't care or try but we are dealing with a stacked paradigm if we are thinking we can save everybody. In education we are told that "everyone' can learn...but will they?

Unusual Suspect

Fri, Aug 3, 2012 : 4:48 p.m.

"Rocket surgeon." I'm stealing that.

Basic Bob

Fri, Aug 3, 2012 : 3:15 a.m.

There is no plan, only a measurement. Do you really fear that your budding rocket surgeons will be dumbed down by the public schools? (Too late)

jcj

Fri, Aug 3, 2012 : 1:37 a.m.

Why don't we tout this as another "LIST" we made?

Ron Granger

Fri, Aug 3, 2012 : 1:33 a.m.

Make the bright kids be free "TA's" for the slower kids. Just be sure and pass a law that prohibits them from unionizing!

Ron Granger

Fri, Aug 3, 2012 : 12:16 p.m.

Bob, your theory fails if the kid does not want to learn. Then they just drag down the bright kid. If the bright kid has learned the material, maybe they want to go learn something else instead of playing "tutor". For a kid who has already done the work, being forced to do it again is just banal. What you suggest has a risk of causing the brighter kids to hold back. Don't finish early or you'll have to tutor. But that would close th gap, wouldn't it?

Basic Bob

Fri, Aug 3, 2012 : 2:03 a.m.

Having to explain something actually helps you learn it better. This is why study groups work.

Joel A. Levitt

Thu, Aug 2, 2012 : 11:30 p.m.

I think that the factors used to evaluate schools were well chosen, but the calculated measures seem to be designed to conceal rather than communicate. For example, we would be much better served if the actual distributions of grades and how they correlate with family income and class size were reported.

DagnyJ

Thu, Aug 2, 2012 : 9:18 p.m.

Community High does a great job of "creaming" Ann Arbor's high population, taking only those kids with families involved enough to enter the lottery. Then it sends any of its students who becomes a failure or a problem back to the factory high school. The only thing special about Community is its exclusivity.

kathryn

Fri, Aug 3, 2012 : 2:49 p.m.

True, the parents have to be involved enough to put their kid in the lottery, but that does not mean that all Community students are "cream." Many struggle in school; many have a different outlook on education...what Community offers that the big schools do not is individual attention. We didn't see much of that at Pioneer.

Macabre Sunset

Thu, Aug 2, 2012 : 9:24 p.m.

It's more that Community, by its nature, is going to score extremely well in a self-selecting measure of this type. I think Community has its place, but it would not be my choice for my son. We need more mixtures of schools tailored for different types of students - being careful, of course, to include students of different socioeconomic status. More and more, I think the Department of Education has become an Orwellian structure. Much like the Ministry of Peace was always at war with Oceania.

ccsummer

Thu, Aug 2, 2012 : 8:45 p.m.

As we look once again at the continuing success of Community High, I remain angry that Ann Arbor, with all the research on education in the world at its fingertips, and ignoring the fact that every year more and more kids want to go to Community, chose to build yet a third gigantic "factory high school" rather than several smaller schools where we know students just do better. I have kids who graduated from Pioneer, Huron and Community. Only one who graduated from Huron, was probably OK there and had great academic and athletic success in spite of the school itself. The other three who went to Pioneer and Huron would have been much better off at Community. The one who went to Community had by far the happiest and most successful high school experience.

easy123

Fri, Aug 3, 2012 : 4:31 p.m.

Basic Bob nailed in right on the head. You have to be a specific kind of kid to be at Community. There are quite a number who have not done well in the "non-structures" environment. The big schools are tiered - depending on the number of AP classes you take!

Basic Bob

Fri, Aug 3, 2012 : 2 a.m.

The difference in Community is they don't support struggling students. Middle school teachers and guidance counselors persuade their parents not to apply. That's obvious from the demographics. Unfortunately we can't do that for everyone. It would be called segregation.

glacialerratic

Thu, Aug 2, 2012 : 11:13 p.m.

It's not that simple. Large schools are not intrinsically inferior. Bronx High School of Science enrols 3,000 students. Thomas Jefferson High School of Science and Technology in Fairfax, VA enrols 1,840. New Trier High School in Winnetka, IL has 3,100 students in grades 10-12. These, and many other large high schools, are absolutely first-rate. Nor are small high schools intrinsically better--there is abundant evidence.

Meredith Schindler

Thu, Aug 2, 2012 : 8:45 p.m.

Has no one noticed that the gap is the same for Ypsilanti High School as it is for the Ann Arbor schools that managed to have enough disadvantaged children to even test? The difference is that Ypsi High has a larger overall percentage of disadvantaged students. The students who are not economically disadvantaged are testing well in Ypsi, and have been for years. But when it's Ann Arbor, suddenly the comments become about how the world needs fry cooks. The world needs children who are well educated and have choices in life, regardless of socioeconomic status. I am very happy to see this distinction implemented in assessing school success. It doesn't mean holding back the gifted students - it means lifting them all up as far as possible.

J. A. Pieper

Thu, Aug 2, 2012 : 11:43 p.m.

Meredith - you have pointed out a big failing of schools today, especially in the AAPS. Every student is expected to be on track for a four year university, and if the schools figure out that your child is not one of these students, there is limited investment in them. Some students just have talents and interests that do not require such an intensive (and expensive) education, and they can be on equal footing economically with others. I greatly appreciate the people who can come into my home and repair my furnace, fix the electricity, repair the roof, and those who work on my car are almost like family! We need all kinds of educated people, and AAPS does not give and equal opportunity for students who need a different path in their career life. The whole idea is to make sure students do have all options available to them, but they will be happiest when they follow their passion, whether it be cooking, or delving into law books.

Itchy

Thu, Aug 2, 2012 : 9:04 p.m.

Unfortunately, the AA school system lacks the leadership to truly make this a reality. This shortcoming rests with all school board members, the supt. and her board, or whatever she calls this group. As a side note, her group is a level that has no value and should be eliminated. This would bring the supt. and the individual school leaders closer together.

Huron74

Thu, Aug 2, 2012 : 7:51 p.m.

Whatever. The world needs fry cooks, security guards, convenience store clerks, bartenders, and topless dancers too. It takes all kinds.

easy123

Fri, Aug 3, 2012 : 4:28 p.m.

There is a difference. There needs to be only one ditch digger and cement mixer to do the work, as compared to other countries who have a lot of people doing the work and taking a lot longer. Who would you take? Get it done within a day or two weeks? I have seen back hoe operators who can work wonders, usually they come up with better innovative ideas to dig a better, quicker, faster ditch. Why do you think we drill a sideways bore rather tahn dig a ditch to lay cable? So to speak - just an example

Unusual Suspect

Fri, Aug 3, 2012 : 2:38 a.m.

"Well, the world needs ditch diggers, too." - Hon. Elihu Smails

Basic Bob

Fri, Aug 3, 2012 : 1:55 a.m.

But it sure is nice when the bartenders and dancers can hold an intelligent conversation.

Itchy

Thu, Aug 2, 2012 : 7:46 p.m.

The improvement needs to start with all school board members, the superintendent and her cabinet or whatever she calls her front line. It is very apparent from the recent articles that this group is clueless when it comes to running a viable education system and process. Maybe too many egos, doctors, and professionals to see clearly that their only goal and objective in their job is to maximize education of our children. Nothing else matters.

easy123

Thu, Aug 2, 2012 : 7:30 p.m.

Your competitiion is now global- Better plan it that way! Hard work deligence and innovation will take you there.

demistify

Thu, Aug 2, 2012 : 7:22 p.m.

So, the state education bureaucrats wants us to be like Lake Woebegone where all the children are above average. Differences in achievement are not to be tolerated, in the age-old Procrustean tradition. The dumb are to be uplifted, the bright chopped down. Schools are to be rewarded for how well they produce a uniform mediocrity. Encouraging each child's learning to extend to the individual capability gets the school a demerit.

Haran Rashes

Thu, Aug 2, 2012 : 6:31 p.m.

As a Skyline parent, should I be concerned with the failure to make Adequate Yearly Progress? This is not the first time Skyline has failed to make AYP. The article says that "Skyline failed to test a high enough percentage of economically disadvantaged students and students of two or more races, the state indicated." What was the percentage tested in these two categories and how many students at Skyline are in these categories? Also, has AnnArbor.com attempted to speak with Dr. Jackson, Skyline's Principal for her explanation about this failure?

easy123

Fri, Aug 3, 2012 : 4:23 p.m.

So why are we experimenting with the trimester system, while Pioneer and Huron are semester based. Are they not tried and true?

a2citizen

Thu, Aug 2, 2012 : 7:56 p.m.

"...should I be concerned...?" Depends. The reason for the failure is not because of what the kids test scores, it is because not enough economically disadvantaged students were tested. How is your child doing? If they are getting good grades I wouldn't worry.

Macabre Sunset

Thu, Aug 2, 2012 : 6:05 p.m.

Well, we could give them all Soma. Life does imitate art, after all.

GoNavy

Thu, Aug 2, 2012 : 5:58 p.m.

Regarding Ann Arbor schools, let's not confuse the base rate of intelligence of the students (which I would estimate to be higher, on average, than other schools based simply on the demographic makeup of this city) with the value-added services of the Ann Arbor schools in question. Taken in this context, it would not be strange to see a school which "outperforms," yet has a lot of room for improvement. In other words, the outperformance is due to the students, not the school.

Itchy

Thu, Aug 2, 2012 : 7:51 p.m.

Yes! We are Michigan! Better yet, we are Ann Arbor. So take that!!!!

Brad

Thu, Aug 2, 2012 : 6:38 p.m.

"all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average,"

Macabre Sunset

Thu, Aug 2, 2012 : 5:33 p.m.

The problem isn't in the schools. At this point, it's far too late to address the parenting gap. If you want better scores in this artificial measure, you need to ensure that parents do a better job preparing their children for kindergarten. The "gap" starts and ends there. This sillyness about holding back the achievers is why our governor feels the need to send his children to private school. Rather than berating our governor (in other stories) for his decision, think about what it means that our governor has so little confidence in our public schools that he sends his high-achieving children elsewhere. It's garbage like these reports.

DonBee

Fri, Aug 3, 2012 : 12:13 p.m.

Macabre Sunset - The governor's children LIE again! How trite. The Governor's son graduated from Huron, I guess in your mind that is a private school. His daughter went to public schools, until SHE ASKED to go to a private school Governor Snyder was perfectly happy (and involved) with Huron as a school for his daughter. I love the way you and others twist this story over and over and over again.

J. A. Pieper

Thu, Aug 2, 2012 : 11:29 p.m.

So agree with you Macabre Sunset! The gap IS there when students start school, and through the lack of parental involvement, it continues. Unfortunately, many parents are made to feel that because they prepared their child for school (read to them, had conversations rather than the passive TV watching, the list goes on and on) that they are responsible for the achievement gap in AAPS, some administrators have even "joked" with parents about this! I have close friends who had their children in AAPS for elementary school, and left afterwards for better learning experiences. I know African American parents who have removed their children from AAPS for the same reason, so many people are aware of what it is like in the public schools! The governor is just lucky he can afford something else for his children, many of us couldn't do this.

UtrespassM

Thu, Aug 2, 2012 : 7:51 p.m.

The "gap" starts and ends here: The race and the money.

Macabre Sunset

Thu, Aug 2, 2012 : 6:29 p.m.

I would agree. The state seems to expect schools to take the place of parents. But it can't, because children are still with their parents most of the day and all summer. If I wasn't becoming used to this brave new world, I'd think this report came from The Onion, not the state.

Craig Lounsbury

Thu, Aug 2, 2012 : 6:17 p.m.

"If you want better scores in this artificial measure, you need to ensure that parents do a better job preparing their children for kindergarten. The "gap" starts and ends there." I would contend the gap may start there but that's not the end. Expectation or the lack of expectation from parents is the single biggest factor in most kids academic "success". But its not "too late" by 1st grade.

JRW

Thu, Aug 2, 2012 : 5:27 p.m.

Just looked at the list on the AAPS website. Huron's ranking = 57 Pioneer's ranking = 88 Yet the article cites these two schools as "high-achieving schools that met all targets the state requires of schools to earn the designation known as adequate yearly progress." How is a 57 considered high achieving? What is the cut-off score for "adequate yearly progress"?

JRW

Thu, Aug 2, 2012 : 5:18 p.m.

So, where is the actual list of Ann Arbor schools and their ranks? "Both (Huron and Pioneer) are high-achieving schools that met all targets the state requires of schools to earn the designation known as adequate yearly progress." So, high achieving means adequate yearly progress? Adequate progress is not "high" achieving.

cette

Thu, Aug 2, 2012 : 4:58 p.m.

I kind of like this Focus School idea. AAPS gets all high and mighty about it's student's performances, but there is significant discrepancy in student achievement across groups, and it's good they got called on it. Now, how's it going to get fixed?

thecompound

Thu, Aug 2, 2012 : 5:08 p.m.

Wont get fixed until the board learns to "get along", lol. ~SARCASM~

thecompound

Thu, Aug 2, 2012 : 4:18 p.m.

Pioneer is on the Focus list. I wonder if this will play into the hiring of the new principal?

smokeblwr

Thu, Aug 2, 2012 : 4:13 p.m.

Well, the easiest way to close the gap is to stop concentrating so much on the high-achievers. Let them fall back to the pack and the gap goes away.

easy123

Fri, Aug 3, 2012 : 4:21 p.m.

sorry sacarsm - cant type and edit

easy123

Fri, Aug 3, 2012 : 4:20 p.m.

To continue with the sacarms theme. Let insist the Lebron James and Kobe be placed in the Skyline and Pioneer team, because they are above average. They will mentor the less able kids and improve their skill sets. How about insisting that Lebron and Kobe join the Nigerian team after they were flatten. At least the competition will be better - lol

ViSHa

Fri, Aug 3, 2012 : 2:18 p.m.

J.A. Pieper, I completely agree with you concerning group projects (and the rest of the post). Many of the kids have caught on that the others will do all the work because they don't want an even worse grade and are also afraid to confront the slacker. Sometimes the teachers are really creating bullying situations with these group projects. And I understand the concept of learning to work in groups, but as usual, there are those who have found a way to work it to their benefit. I doubt in the work force someone is going to threaten physical harm to you if you don't do their work for them.

DonBee

Fri, Aug 3, 2012 : 12:09 p.m.

J.A. Pieper - My children have helped others with learning, all the way back to second grade and they enjoy it. What I see here is people digging in. There is not solution. The children of uninvolved parents will always fail, just throw those students away now. We don't need their kind in the schools - if the parents don't care we should not have to teach them. There is no solution. Give me a better answer. The system is broken in Detroit 7 out of 8 students never learn to read. Is that the answer - news for you - 50% of the children born in 2011 were born to single mothers. So the number of uninvolved parents is headed up. More children are going to fail in the current system. You say yourself - good students teach themselves and the problem with poor students is with the parents. So why don't we just hire $8.50 an hour babysitters - since the good students don't need teachers and the bad students won't learn anyway - since their parents are not involved? Yes, I know this is a rant - I am tired of people digging in and saying the status quo is as good as it gets. Nothing can be done. It is all someone else's fault.

J. A. Pieper

Thu, Aug 2, 2012 : 11:14 p.m.

Don Bee, you obviously have not had your "capable" child put in this situation in school, or you wouldn't suggest this as a way to solve the achievement gap issues. This strategy is often encouraged by those who are not on the front line of working with children in the classroom. Several non classroom people in AAPS have made it clear to teachers that we don't have to work with our academically capable students, they will learn by themselves, we should put all our focus on the academically challenged students. As a teacher, I don't mind if some students offer to help another classmate occasionally, it is an admirable quality. But it is not their responsibility, and it is mine to challenge them to go further with their learning. My own two sons opened my eyes about this situation because they questioned WHY they were always placed next to the slow learners to help them, or next to the behavior problems, so they could be a role model on appropriate behavior. In group work, the grade was an average of the group members, even when their own grade might have been an A, so they learned that group work wasn't a good thing to be involved in, it lowered their grade, but raised other students' grades. Any wonder why AAPS might be losing students? It is because of these practices, maybe along with bullying, some of our best students head elsewhere to have a fair chance at learning. I usually appreciate what you share related to education, but you are way off base on this issue.

a2citizen

Thu, Aug 2, 2012 : 7:51 p.m.

Don, Have you developed a wage-scale for the conscripted labor?

Angry Moderate

Thu, Aug 2, 2012 : 7:07 p.m.

Students who do well are doing well in both math and English. Students who are failing are failing both. And good students should not be deprived of their educational time by being recruited as free tutors. My middle school attempted to draft me into this--I was told (not asked) to call a certain bad student EVERY NIGHT and help him with his homework. I did it for about 2 days--quite the waste of time, as the student had absolutely no interest in studying or doing his homework. Anyone who bothers to care can squeak out a C+ in any AAPS class.

Tony Livingston

Thu, Aug 2, 2012 : 6:01 p.m.

Kids hate having other kids know that they have trouble. They already have tutoring programs at Pioneer after school. Good students stay and help the other kids. My daughter was paired with someone who was obviously very embarassed to have her see his difficulties.

JuliaAnnArb

Thu, Aug 2, 2012 : 5:55 p.m.

Pairing the top students with the bottom ones so the teachers can focus on the middle will NOT alleviate boredom for the brightest kids. It will make them incredibly frustrated. They are not trained teachers. They deserve to learn to the best of their abilities, not to spend their entire day helping kids who need an able adult to teach them. Kids explaining things to other kids once in a while, kids working in groups, those models are fine. Sacrificing the education of the top students to keep them busy and keep the bottom students out of your hair, not fine.

DonBee

Thu, Aug 2, 2012 : 5:12 p.m.

A better way smokeblwr is to setup mentor pairs in the classroom with the best students assigned to help the ones who are behind. This pairing should be made by subject. So in one case a student doing well in english but not in math may end up being the mentor in one case and the mentee in the other case. This would be a significant amount of work for teachers to change their lesson plans to accomplish this, but would mean that the teacher would have more time for the students in the middle and that the high achievement students would not be bored all the time. But this is will not happen in AAPS because it would mean publically identifying the students who are behind to their peers.

smokeblwr

Thu, Aug 2, 2012 : 4:27 p.m.

Did I? Or didn't I? I like to think outside the box. To shift paradigms. Energize synergies amongst stakeholders and vested parties.

thecompound

Thu, Aug 2, 2012 : 4:17 p.m.

i think you forgot to add ~sarcasm~, well at least i hope you did.