One big happy classroom?

The Madison School District announced today that it will not scrap the gifted and talented program at East High. You could almost hear the collective sigh of relief from many of the parents in this area. The proposal to eliminate the classes comes from a line of thinking that in order to close the achievement gap, students should be placed in "heterogeneous" classes where students of all achievement levels are grouped together in one classroom. But does this work?

Is there a body of research out there that proves putting students in classrooms like this does what people are hoping it will do? It seems counter intuitive that this would work so I'm curious if there is proof out there that this is a good solution.

It would be one thing if high schools had a small number of kids in the classroom. Teaching fifteen kids of different levels seems somewhat doable. Teaching twenty-five to thirty sounds just crazy. The kids on the high and low end would probably be neglected because it is asking way too much of a teacher.

Many of the parents in my neighborhood have told me the only reason they still send their kids to East High is because of the talented and gifted program. So will the heterogeneous classrooms really close the gap or just close it on paper because the high achieving students have fled the school so the remaining students will be closer in achievement?

Can this problem be solved this late in a child's education with a broadly applied program like this or is anything short of intensive individualized tutoring to make up lost ground a waste of time? Is this the only option we have to try to close this gap? Madison Superintendent Art Rainwater says this is part of a big plan.

Rainwater's vision would take at least two years to implement and be molded through steering committees made up of experts. He said it would include a broad "system of changes" to address the achievement gap. "Many children of color and poverty are not meeting standards," he said, adding that graduation rates are still too low for students in those categories.

I've looked at the MMSD website for the plan, but haven't found it yet. Hopefully the school district will post the plan soon and plan for a period of discussion.