Rethink Stamford Middle School Reform

We, parents of Stamford Public School students, believe that the elimination of ability grouping at the middle school level will deprive children at every level of the focus and attention they need. The goal of Middle School Reform should be to challenge and educate all students and push them to work to their highest level of ability. This will not be the case if heterogeneous or even two groups are imposed at our Middle Schools. The teachers will be unable to challenge and push the top performing students and the students who are below grade level will not receive the attention they need. The two best performing elementary schools in Stamford have academic grouping; the Board should use the example in our own community of what is working. We support the concept of flexible grouping by subject and believe that students should be evaluated often so as not to be permanently tracked into one group. However, we urge you to reconsider the proposal for heterogeneous grouping. Institute a system that works for all levels of students. Do not put your higher achieving students at risk. We implore you to maintain four academic levels in order to ensure that ALL students in Stamford are provided the same opportunity to reach their fullest potential.

Sponsor

Stamford school parents concerned about Middle School Reform

Discussion

No comments yet.

join the discussion

Recent signatures

  • username

    Renee Cannella, United States

    5 years ago Comments: One of the arguments I have heard for getting rid of groupings is that this will raise the self esteem of the lower performing students. What a preposterous line of reasoning. If a child who is having academic difficulties is in the same class with children who find the work a "piece of cake"- how will that make the child feel? Terrible. Self-esteem will plummet not rise. This will create a feeling of helplessness which will not encourage a child to try harder but rather will create a mindset of "why bother?" On the other side you will have children bored or not being challenged to reach their full potential because the teacher will not be able to move the class forward if others are struggling. This is a lose/lose situation. Heterogeneous grouping is nothing more than a misguided attempt to be politically correct at the expense of all of our children. Where is the common sense?
  • username

    Laura Magnuson, United States

    5 years ago
  • username

    Janine Darling, United States

    5 years ago
See more

Petition highlights

There are no highlights yet.