tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post1368693308546613489..comments2024-03-26T04:19:38.862-07:00Comments on kitchen table math, the sequel: Targeting Differentiated InstructionCatherine Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03347093496361370174noreply@blogger.comBlogger33125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-85465911721422220622009-11-02T08:12:37.143-08:002009-11-02T08:12:37.143-08:00OrangeMath, the ability to self=track depends on t...OrangeMath, the ability to self=track depends on the district. Districts like mine don't allow it, unless the child is moving to a lower track. Honors is by invite only. Smart, knoweledgeable children that don't have calm, teacher pleasing behaviors aren't invited.lgmnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-19358420689301002952009-10-29T14:12:37.581-07:002009-10-29T14:12:37.581-07:00Students self-track in high school.Students self-track in high school.orangemathhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05099727076265177042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-22746593176263341502009-10-29T12:51:29.597-07:002009-10-29T12:51:29.597-07:00SteveH, the union made that statement in an open l...SteveH, the union made that statement in an open letter, published in the community. <br /><br />Our high school allows tracking in science, math, and half of the languages. There's a sheltered English class in the first two years of high school, but it is heterogeneous, in the main.<br /><br />Every district is different in their approach to the challenge of reaching all students.<br /><br />I have also heard of districts which claim not to track, but tend to have a "faster" class and a "slower" class, for the same subject, same grade level. The clustering of students in ability groups makes sense, but good luck as a parent trying to 1) realize that such things are going on, 2) trying to decide to which group your child's been assigned, and 3) getting school personnel to admit that it's going on. It's de facto tracking, but if you're not "in the know," there's no way to tell. <br /><br />Also, most parents aren't paying close attention to school matters, even in good school districts. The parents who are paying attention are those whose needs aren't being met, the parents of special needs kids, the gifted, and the twice-exceptional. (That also seems to describe most of the parent posters on KTM.)Cranberrynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-48035917959277331712009-10-29T11:06:20.248-07:002009-10-29T11:06:20.248-07:00The audio are from a Canadian woman of Canadian ch...The audio are from a Canadian woman of Canadian children, she did them years ago and she has now passed away. Don Potter has tried to get in touch with her relatives to no avail. She had a set of more than a dozen sentences the she used, the only one we know is this one that she talked about:<br /><br />1. Mother will not like me to play games in my big red hat.<br /><br />2. Mike fed some nuts and figs to his tame rat.<br /><br />The children knew games but not tame, hat but not rat, big but not figs, etc.ElizabethBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06128884454595561057noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-35359987373350679602009-10-29T10:13:39.070-07:002009-10-29T10:13:39.070-07:00targeting (sp)targeting (sp)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-35615974544506503882009-10-29T07:37:03.620-07:002009-10-29T07:37:03.620-07:00"In our public school, I've watched the g..."In our public school, I've watched the growth of an ideology which publicly states that the least capable students are the students who most deserve the school's attention."<br /><br />"publically states"?<br /><br />Our town won't say that publically, but they see angry parents who take their kids out and send them to private schools for just that reason. It's clear that the above average end of kids get short-changed; that all kids get short-changed.<br /><br />But is it really clear? Will a documentary do the trick? Will it do any good if this is a publically-stated policy? A common response I hear is that K-8 schools have to teach ALL kids. Of course private schools can do more. Their kids are "pre-selected".<br /><br />High schools teach all kids but they allow tracking. What is the problem with tracking in K-8? Are social issues really more important than academic issues? Do the fuzzy ideas of education come first or do they derive from a social agenda? Perhaps it's just the happy convergence of ed school thought. Drill and Kill separates kids by ability, so it must be defined as not important or even bad. They then claim the high ground by talking about critical thinking and understanding. What they are really hiding are low expectations and a social agenda.<br /><br /><br />What are the real problems and assumptions going on here? I find it odd that in math, K-6 schools claim that they allow full-inclusion, developmentally-appropriate spiraling, and a better math curriculum all at the same time. It's an astounding accomplishment!SteveHhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03956560674752399562noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-58551698148755226992009-10-29T06:55:14.246-07:002009-10-29T06:55:14.246-07:00Rocky, certainly it's possible to do that. It...Rocky, certainly it's possible to do that. It's just that each child gets far less instruction if the teacher has to devise three separate lessons for each subject, and take the time to deliver all three, than if one lesson worked for the entire class (with room for some variation in specific instances, but not for each student, for each lesson).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-82712310767545409792009-10-29T06:46:34.631-07:002009-10-29T06:46:34.631-07:00Is it possible to use differentiated instruction t...Is it possible to use differentiated instruction to make your classroom a little "one room schoolhouse"? I know you can't actually label your kids or use different books, but you might be able to mentally think about your differentiated cohorts as "5th grade", "6th grade", "7th grade" and have the other two groups work on assignments while you instruct the third.rockynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-24635824372969360572009-10-29T06:26:58.340-07:002009-10-29T06:26:58.340-07:00I think the dream of differentiation is a response...I think the dream of differentiation is a response to an impossible situation. The public schools are required to offer students with IEPs "the least restrictive" classroom setting. In our state, tracking is discouraged. Offering extra, targeted instruction is expensive. If you declare that <i>good</i> teachers are able to teach at multiple levels <i>simultaneously,</i> then you've solved the problem, without spending a cent. Which teacher wants to label herself a "bad teacher?" Going against the school bureaucracy has no upside for a teacher.<br /><br />In our public school, I've watched the growth of an ideology which publicly states that the least capable students are the students who <i>most deserve</i> the school's attention.Cranberrynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-57422597704868964662009-10-28T20:14:30.202-07:002009-10-28T20:14:30.202-07:00Katharine, PalisadesK, and others:
The student d...Katharine, PalisadesK, and others: <br /><br />The student documentary is an interesting idea. Maybe it could be made, because maybe the kids would be able to do it themselves, and find a way to show what's wrong. This would mean olderish kids, though.<br /><br />I am still concerned that parents would not perceive the kids as "their kids" but as "someone else's kids", and therefore, feel more able to dismiss it, while sympathetic engaging teachers might be better.<br /><br />But it's an interesting idea. The kids sure would know how to grab attention.<br /><br />So, here's the issue: do they know what's wrong? Or do they just know that *something* is wrong?<br /><br />The teachers know what's wrong with differentiated instruction to cope with full inclusion; do the students? could they articulate that?<br /><br />The reason I ask is because a film where the kids say "my school situation is untenable" but don't make concrete this problem of full inclusion/diffinst just because fodder for people of each side to push its pre-packaged argument.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-18971100679208683062009-10-28T20:04:20.893-07:002009-10-28T20:04:20.893-07:00--Paul,
I am not suggesting Differentiated Instru...--Paul,<br /><br />I am not suggesting Differentiated Instruction isn't a symptom of a disease. But some symptoms kill the patient.<br /><br />ACORN is a perfect example of a SYMPTOM of the problem of political correctness, federal interference, monopoly behaviors, and an almost total lack of real analytic thinking about first, second or third order effects in society. But waiting to stop ACORN until we've fixed political correctness, federal interference, monopoly behavior, and lack of analytic thinking means NEVER stopping ACORN.<br /><br />The same is true here. We can't wait to fix what you refer to as the disease. <br /><br />The system is enabled and allowed to keep creating this dispersion because no one demands that it stop. Because even if all of the above disease processes are in place, enough people saying NO MORE "full inclusion/differentiated instruction" could make it stop--could even change the law. <br /><br />Good isn't the enemy of best, and our inability to solve the ultimate problem shouldn't stop us from revolting against what's wrong now.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-27582640761539765112009-10-28T20:01:15.057-07:002009-10-28T20:01:15.057-07:00ElizabethB,
Where are the audios of those kids? D...ElizabethB,<br /><br />Where are the audios of those kids? Do you have any with appropriate releases? <br /><br />I think one reason a movie of the teachers, rather than the children, is because parents are more likely to become angry at the "children being exploited"--even if the real exploitation is by the school system; they may see film of the failing children and get angry, but get angry at the film maker.<br /><br />Another reason is because it's easy for a parent to say "but that's not my kid" and hide behind that, but a good film maker could find likeable adults that appeal to other adults, so the teachers would say "I want my child to have that teacher" and then take her more seriously, say.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-55819715011813755432009-10-28T19:59:16.505-07:002009-10-28T19:59:16.505-07:00"It's far more a story of convergence.&qu..."It's far more a story of convergence."<br /><br />I agree with this. Over many years I've noticed how all of the pieces fit together and wondered exactly how it happened. We have full-inclusion, social promotion, developmentally-appropriate ideas, authentic learning, portfolios, learning styles, and conceptual understanding with low demand on skill and knowledge. A central theme seems to be low expectations and low accountability.<br /><br />Even if I could eliminate differentiated instruction in our schools, that's not going to create the education I want to see.SteveHhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03956560674752399562noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-39558891863235849812009-10-28T19:54:04.132-07:002009-10-28T19:54:04.132-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-19527637223358511202009-10-28T19:49:47.269-07:002009-10-28T19:49:47.269-07:00"Most want 'improvement' but are not ..."Most want 'improvement' but are not that unhappy with the status quo."<br /><br />So what will a documentary do? If it's all just about saving money, what will a documentary do? What about those parents who want to vote with their feet but don't have the money to do so? A documentary might stir the pot, but if a system is as bad as palisadesk describes hers, the goal is to get out of the pot.<br /><br /><br />"What's next?" has to do with what happens if a school just reduces the levels of differention? You've punched the paper bag, but it's still there. I've been through this with Everyday Math. The school just talks about balance.<br /><br /><br />"But no one is going to know to do anything until they see how far the truth is from their own misconceptions."<br /><br />We have lots of parents who are not happy, but there is little they can do about it. This is not just about knowledge, but choices.SteveHhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03956560674752399562noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-30434003052149936272009-10-28T19:05:18.463-07:002009-10-28T19:05:18.463-07:00I like the idea of turning over this rock. I would...I like the idea of turning over this rock. I would suggest though, that differentiated instruction is just a symptom. The disease, the more damnable nut to crack, is how does the system enable and create the kind of dispersion that we see.<br /><br />I don't buy at all, the theory that this is some ed school conspiracy, or a curriculum hack, or even a management or union failure. It's far more a story of convergence.<br /><br />It's the convergence of political correctness, federal interference (disguised as help), monopoly behaviors, and an almost total lack of real analytical thinking about second and third order effects of the latest magic bullet that's the real story.<br /><br />Differentiated instruction is just paint mixing to color the results.<br /><br />For example, I've spent 2 of my three hours of prep time (through Wednesday) this week in administrative meetings. One hour was spent pushing on my latest grades (26 fails out of 65). Another was spent agonizing over how I would create individual plans for 20 or so kids who failed last years MCAS testing to get them to pass this year.<br /><br />Sweet! Inflate your grades (hint, hint) to get down to just 4 or 5 fails. Then, in your spare time, figure out how to correct 4 or 5 years of misconceptions and miscues to get these same kids through a testing regimen that is ruthlessly impartial. This is the real story. This is where the dispersion needs a root canal.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-89573910486809979682009-10-28T15:32:51.851-07:002009-10-28T15:32:51.851-07:00--You are describing a system that is fundamentall...--<i>You are describing a system that is fundamentally flawed and is so far off course that it can't be fixed. I won't necessarily disagree with that, but what's next? What's the scenario? What's the process?</i><br /><br />What's next? What's the scenario? What's the process?<br /><br />Only the Left believes in top down revolutions. Yes, some uproars are nothing but tempests in teapots. But if you try to dictate the goal of what should be accomplished by outrage, you can't succeed in a bottom-up solution.<br /><br />You can't blow up the school system from the top. <br /><br />I'm not going to try and dictate what hundreds, thousands, or more angry people do to change things. Maybe they'll do nothing, but I'd rather get the uproar going and then see what motivated adults are willing to do. Some of them may vote with their feet, their pocketbooks. Some may do nothing. But no one is going to know to do anything until they see how far the truth is from their own misconceptions.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-31195399317338535362009-10-28T14:12:23.504-07:002009-10-28T14:12:23.504-07:00Back to Allison's idea -- I like the idea of a...Back to Allison's idea -- I like the idea of a documentary that gave a dose of reality from the classroom level. I think you could do it with actual teachers on-camera, as long as you fuzzed their faces and did that voice-altering stuff they do with witness protection shots. You would have to obscure the faces of students, too, unless you got their permission to broadcast. But realistic scenes could be shown with the identities protected, and full interviews (if desired) with both teachers and kids. It would be good to hear from kids who resent the time lost to dealing with severely disturbed or volatile students, or whose patience with being made into non-voluntary tutors for the low achievers has been exhausted. Also, let's hear from some of the "included" students who know full well they are not learning and are the butt of jokes and insults (or worse) when adults' backs are turned.<br /><br />I think this is an idea with some potential.palisadeskhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13700503881038569921noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-40454212029020168092009-10-28T13:44:55.395-07:002009-10-28T13:44:55.395-07:00(Part 2)
Now, since your district is smaller, and...(Part 2)<br /><br />Now, since your district is smaller, and obviously the conditions and motivations and local issues are very different from those I deal with, perhaps you can change things. Catherine's example with Irvington may be a pattern to follow. It should be more feasible to effect change at local levels in smaller districts.<br /><br />Mine is too big, and it can outmaneuver the various dissidents, whether they are staff or parents. We also have very few teachers whose education was largely in "education," so the ed school influence is less. We rank very highly in level of education of our teaching force; teachers I know are <b>quite</b> dissatisfied with the current climate of heterogeneous classes, social promotion, "inclusion" at the expense of learning (for the "included" students as well -- they no longer get the support they need), and politically correct b.s. about social justice and diversity. Some of the most vocal are visible minority teachers (and parents) who find this movement patronizing and suspect a conspiracy to keep them in their place.<br /><br />I don't believe in a conspiracy, because I can't rule out ignorance and bureaucratic incompetence. As one of Murphy's Laws goes, a bureaucracy is like a septic tank -- the big chunks rise to the top. Sure is true here.<br /><br />My own choice is to focus on teaching my students as well as I possibly can, and in some cases at least this means life-changing leaps in skills and learning which makes the b.s. worth putting up with. It also means I need to fly under the radar, because if I openly fought the system (as I did via accepted channels for many years, before I knew it was a waste of energy) my ability to help students would be compromised.<br /><br />There may be no teachers like me in your district -- fine, I'll take your word for it. But there are certainly others like me in mine. It is also true that the stupid stuff nearly all comes from the top in this district, and is rarely supported except grudgingly by teachers or (often) many parents. Naturally the district has its "pet parents" who cheer every move, but they are a minority even though they get a lot of airplay.<br /><br />We continue to hemorrhage students because people are choosing private education or moving elsewhere, so ultimately voting with the feet may be the most effective way to foster change. I don’t see “choice” as solving the problem at the macro level, but it will enable people with a different vision to have schools that are consistent with their needs and values.palisadeskhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13700503881038569921noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-38811902934616061222009-10-28T13:41:04.701-07:002009-10-28T13:41:04.701-07:00Well,SteveH, I can accept that your district opera...Well,SteveH, I can accept that your district operates on very different contingencies(as the saying goes) than mine, and that teachers and others there are supportive of full inclusion and other practices, and that these come from below, not above. You live there, and you should know.<br /><br />However, my district is <i>quite </i>different, and the forces at work clearly differ as well. The full inclusion model was imposed from above, with very little parent consultation, and has never been fully accepted by any of the "stakeholders." The CEO of the district even said, in a public meeting, that the reason for it was to save money.<br /><br />You can choose to believe that they are lying and there is some other dynamic at work, but I don't see why it isn't a reasonable proposition that different districts have different agendas, ways of doing things, operational procedures, and so on.<br />Despite the efforts to homogenize education, local variation is still quite extensive. <br /><br />My personal opinion, after <i>many</i>years of fighting for reform at all levels, and going through all the "appropriate" channels -- serving on committees, making presentations to the school board, working to elect a reform-minded board, speaking to parent groups, participating in union committees on curriculum and advisory committees on policy, writing letters to the newspapers, giving interviews to education reporters,joining various reform groups and goodness knows what else, I am no longer of the opinion that the system (at least in my locale) can be substantively changed.<br /><br />Despite the existence of angry parents like yourself (I know quite a few and have worked with them), angry teachers and administrators (I know plenty of them, too), disenchanted students and community members who no longer have children in school, the public at large (as many, many opinion surveys have found) is reasonably satisfied with their neighborhood school. Most want "improvement" but are not that unhappy with the status quo.palisadeskhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13700503881038569921noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-28895306747487906972009-10-28T10:46:26.019-07:002009-10-28T10:46:26.019-07:00"teachers do complain about these things,&quo..."teachers do complain about these things,"<br /><br />You mean some or very few teachers complain. Teachers don't just fall off the ed school truck and figure it out. Do they complain about the idea of full inclusion or just the spread of abilities?<br /><br /><br />"..but the law and the collective agreement do not give you the right to demand a better instructional situation."<br /><br />Demanding a better instructional situation is not against the law.<br /><br /><br />"..but it [the union] cannot assist in the issue of full inclusion, differentiation, unreasonable expectations, and so on."<br /><br />It can't or it won't?<br /><br /><br />"Full inclusion is a movement that did not come from teachers, but from higher up (in our district, anyway) and is driven by the desire to cut costs."<br /><br />I don't buy this at all. Cost savings might be used to get some on board, but it's not the driving factor. I also don't buy this idea of teachers versus administrations or higher-ups. Almost all of the teachers I've dealt with talk the same ed school talk. Don't ever expect me to hop on board some sort of teacher support bus. You're describing a bus I've never seen.<br /><br /><br />"In an inclusive setting, without appropriate resources, this is a pipe dream."<br /><br />It's a pipe dream even with resources. Our town provides plenty of resources. Full inclusion and differentiated instruction have plenty of support. It doesn't work when the kids are in the same classroom.<br /><br /><br />"Try fifth graders who can’t reliably count to 50, or add 5 plus 3 without holding up the fingers of one hand,..."<br /><br />So what's your point? What is THE point?<br /><br />Allison wants to show the futility of differentiatied instruction. Fine. What's the goal, reducing the different levels down to a point that is minimally acceptable or finding a new model? Is that possible?<br /><br />Even if you accept that this is all about saving money, then what?<br /><br />You are describing a system that is fundamentally flawed and is so far off course that it can't be fixed. I won't necessarily disagree with that, but what's next? What's the scenario? What's the process?SteveHhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03956560674752399562noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-82203333260689402332009-10-28T09:23:28.381-07:002009-10-28T09:23:28.381-07:00(Part 2)
So part of this whole movement is driven...(Part 2)<br /><br />So part of this whole movement is driven by the desire to contain Sped costs. But, done properly, good specialized instruction can save money and prevent many problems later. Early and intensive instruction in the basic skills can permit many children with real challenges to achieve within normal parameters, and enable those with genuine handicaps to develop sufficient literacy and numeracy skills to expect to live a semi-independent life as adults. <br /><br /> In an inclusive setting, without appropriate resources, this is a pipe dream. Children who are in need of systematic instruction on an intensive basis -- not forever, just for some subjects, for a limited time – never consolidate their skills, and by later elementary school are completely lost. Your scenario of fifth graders not knowing 6*7 is way too optimistic. Try fifth graders who can’t reliably count to 50, or add 5 plus 3 without holding up the fingers of one hand, going 1,2,3,4,5 and then counting off three fingers – 1,2,3 – on the other hand, then going back to the first hand and starting with 1 to finally get the answer of 8.<br /><br /> I saw this in a fifth grade class last week. The child is not Sped. A seventh grade teacher has kids (also not sped) whose math skills are at the first grade level – still trying to do addition and subtraction with regrouping.<br /><br />I have been in schools that effectively dealt with these sorts of situations, through intensive withdrawal in targeted areas of need, grouping students with similar instructional needs together. Use of paraprofessionals extended the opportunities. A strong skill set and good curricular materials were essential. All that is out the window now. We have group activities, math journals, manipulatives out the ying yang, foldables, "projects" and no real interventions for kids who aren’t getting it. <br /><br />Speaking for my own observations in several schools in my own district, teachers are not in favor of full inclusion nor of “differentiated instruction” beyond a reasonable amount of allowance for individual differences that good teachers have always been willing to do. The expectation of providing appropriate skill-based instruction to a class ranging from 1st to 10th grade level (and writing your own materials to do it) is beyond absurd. Some grade teams work to minimize the problem by interclass groupings – I’ll take the “low” ones, you take the “medium" ones and she takes the “high” ones. If the school admin supports this, that will work better than total heterogeneity.<br /><br />The upshot of all this is that teachers in local community colleges tell me that their average incoming freshmen are at a sixth grade level in math and English. A prestigious university nearby has recently (on the q.t.) begun offering remedial reading, writing and math to students who were at the top of their high school classes and who had good SAT scores. They may be smart, but they are severely instructionally disabled.palisadeskhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13700503881038569921noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-23299681157098256262009-10-28T09:16:52.778-07:002009-10-28T09:16:52.778-07:00SteveH, teachers do complain about these things, a...SteveH, teachers do complain about these things, and some get active in various committees and advisory groups that (supposedly) can influence policy. But screaming to the union will serve no purpose. Teachers have no “right” to homogeneous classes, or to well-prepared students, or even to effective resources. Public education means, when push comes to shove, that whatever walks in the door of your classroom is your responsibility to teach – as well as you can. That may end up being almost not at all, but the law and the collective agreement do not give you the right to demand a better instructional situation. <br /><br />The pressure for smaller classes comes in part because of this ridiculous spread of ability and preparedness (the amount of paperwork and documentation is mind-boggling – when I actually tried to do it all, in my seventh grade class at a previous school, I was putting in 18 hour days 7 days a week and did not come close to getting it all done. I *never* felt on top of things, or that I was doing a good job. The task was intrinsically impossible).<br /><br />The union can intervene in cases of bullying by school level administration, failure to honor requirements for lunch breaks or assignment of excess supervision, or changes in assignment without due consultation, but it cannot assist in the issue of full inclusion, differentiation, unreasonable expectations, and so on. <br /><br />I think you are correct, that differentiated instruction is a response to other factors that are at play. It is a developing trend – we started hearing a lot about it several years ago, and it is picking up steam and will probably be in full force for the next decade or more. Then some other faddish idea will replace it. It is a variation on the theme of “all children will learn at their own rate” or “in their own style” and is consistent with the definition of the teacher’s role as one of providing learning opportunities,not one of directly effecting learning outcomes via systematic instruction. <br /><br />However, we can track back the chain of causation farther. Full inclusion is a movement that did not come from teachers, but from higher up (in our district, anyway) and is driven by the desire to cut costs. It is supported to a limited degree by parents who do not want their children segregated into special schools or classes. But to be effective, schools need far more personnel and resources to make inclusion work than they would need for segregated Sped, and of course they are not prepared to spend the money. They want the feel-good qualities of “inclusion” without the commitment to the personnel and resources to make inclusion work effectively for students. <br /><br />This discrepancy is not patently obvious to outsiders, however. Parents of struggling children are often happy to think their child is progressing (even if at a snail’s pace) in an “inclusive” setting, not realizing that precious years of learning are zipping by and their child will never have a chance to make up for lost time. By the time their child is in high school, functioning at a third grade level (or less), they are up the creek, so to speak.palisadeskhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13700503881038569921noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-38956940191521041612009-10-28T07:26:40.164-07:002009-10-28T07:26:40.164-07:00Forget 7th grade, even in the primary grades the s...Forget 7th grade, even in the primary grades the span can be too great. I think I've seen an estimate somewhere of the grade level disparity that can be handled by a really good teacher using differentiated instruction. IIRC, students 2 or more grade levels away from the expected level, on either side, are SOL. I could be wrong, maybe it was >2 grade levels. <br /><br />I've been hoping that the RTI model, if applied to both sides (above and below grade level), might help. After all, it's essentially putting the kids into more homogeneous groups for some period of time. Supposedly, they should be teaching what the kids are ready to learn. RTI, interpreted as for both above and below, is being implemented in my district this year. I hope it doesn't turn out to be just enrichment for the above grade level kids. Seems to me that if applied to both sides then any stigma (per Igm above) is removed. <br /><br />Anyway, I wish a documentary on the dream of differentiated instruction would be produced. I wonder who would be willing to be in it as a teacher though.kcabhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05748506412950391256noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-8231799314021229832009-10-28T06:47:54.562-07:002009-10-28T06:47:54.562-07:00"Differentiated instruction is a no-no here i..."Differentiated instruction is a no-no here in full inclusion land."<br /><br />In our town, differentiated instruction does not mean that kids are separated in the same classroom. The kids are in mixed ability groups, BUT there is still differentiated instruction going on. How? That's the big question. I've had some examples explained to me, but the teachers almost seem embarrassed about it. Often, the only real differentiation happens in those few times when students do individual work, like homework.<br /><br />If the demand for full inclusion and lower expectations come from many parents, then it's clear that there is no school model that can support the educational desires of all parents. It's not a matter of just letting parents know what's going on about differentiated instruction. Many parents in our town love full inclusion. They value the social implications of the model over the educational implications. Too bad that many of these parents are the ones most willing to make up the difference at home. The ones who have the resources go somewhere else.<br /><br />I don't see this as something that is wrong that has to or could be fixed only if everyone knew what was going on. I think the only model that has any chance of working is choice. Either K-8 schools have to offer that choice, or the choice has to come from separating kids by school.<br /><br />High schools have a history of offering choice (not that they are good choices), but this is not true for K-8 schools until the later grades. The assumption is that it doesn't matter; that it can all work out fine. It's not clear that even if you opened the eyes of many parents, anything would change. What's the new model?<br /><br />One charter school in our area talks about a full inclusion enironment where the core courses are homogeneous, but everything else is heterogeneous. However, the last time I looked, the expectations were still low. <br /><br />Is this a problem that has one solution? Is it even close? What, exactly, is the problem. It surely isn't NAEP test scores. It's the millions of kids and parents who want something more and know clearly what they want. Those choices are not available. There is no one solution. There are many solutions. Many are available right now.SteveHhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03956560674752399562noreply@blogger.com