From the article:

Test scores rose dramatically in 2004 and 2005. But official discomfort persisted. In the 2005-06 academic year, Roberson was instructed to halt performance-based grouping, for at least one year, "to see if it really had an impact on student performance." Students returned to mixed-ability classrooms. Test scores fell.

My son's class just started "book club" (he is in 5th grade). The kids are grouped into reading circles and each circle has a different set of books - with different reading levels.

That just made me realize I forgot to ask him which book his group is reading. Must remember to ask tonight. For free reading he is zooming through a reread of all the HP books.

The "don't be eliteist" trend seems to be in the last ten or twenty years.

wanders off mumbling about the goddamned hippies

Differentiation is the norm in modern teaching, Fay, never fear. It's considered extremely important in elementary and middle school (up to about age 13), though we certainly strive to do so in the upper grades too.

Differentiation is the norm in modern teaching, Fay, never fear. It's considered extremely important in elementary and middle school (up to about age 13), though we certainly strive to do so in the upper grades too

Huh. That news must not have gotten to the town where I grew up, then -- as of a few years ago, a bunch of parents were still fighting what seemed like a losing battle to bring back reading groups. And when my older sister was in high school, they had what different class levels starting in eighth grade, but by the time I was there, four years later, that started in eleventh grade.

Also, and I realize this is a separate issue, but I feel like ranting about it anyway -- with the standardized testing, lots of times, it only counts pass/fail rates. So when I was volunteer tutoring in a school in New Orleans (this was a few years before No Child Left Behind, but there was a similar state program), I was working with kids in a fourth grade class. The kids we were assigned to work with were the ones who were reading just below a fourth grade level, the ones who could get up to the fourth grade level with a bit of work. There were also some kids in the class who were reading at somewhere around a first or second grade level, but since the school had limited resources, our efforts had to be focused on the kids who might get up to the "pass" range, not the ones who might improve a whole lot but still be failing.

this was a few years before No Child Left Behind, but there was a similar state program

LATIP/LATEP or something? I remember that. It even required teachers to have a certain amount of flair. Dude. I was at a magnet school. We don't need big glossy posters to memorize the presidents.

LATIP/LATEP or something?

LEAP, I'm pretty sure. Lousiana Educational Assessment Program, maybe? Around 2000 or 2001.

I can't remember if we had to take that or not. I mostly remember the CAT. LATIP/LATEP was something they were using back in my day to judge the teachers. It was horrible and I imagine some of my favorite teachers might not have passed based on stupid stuff.

I should not be around teh humans today. I am in a right foul mood and could be irrational in my actions and/or words.

For instance, thinking one's mother is a bloody cow for no reason other than she's there is not healthy.