Nevermind wrote:
I know this will be a very unscientific survey, but I'm curious about
how common Erika's school's grouping system (see below) is these days.
Our school doesn't officially do ability grouping -- there is *no*
expectation that the work the kids're doing in reading or math will be
pegged to their individual ability at all, only to their age. It's
one-size-fits-all unless the teacher wants to differentiate on her
own.

How about your kids' elementary schools?



I have a 5th grader and a 2nd grader, and grouping seems to
be done at the discretion of the teacher, though it is very
widely done, especially in the early grades. Teachers
usually sort the kids into reading groups K-2 and work with
the groups by ability. Some might be in chapter books, with
other groups working on the "easy reader" level. Last year
the 4th grade math teacher did a pretest and sorted the kids
at the beginning of each subject, which was the first I'd
seen math grouping. The 5th grade language arts teacher we
have this year has also done some evaluations and has the
kids working on any weak areas as needed.

HTH-
Lesley