Cluster Program Considerations A Teacher Perspective May 2014

My Perspectives 1.Self-Contained Highly Capable Teacher 2.Highly Capable Program Specialist

Background for Clustering Overcrowding in general education classes and space in Highly Capable class Community desire for equity and access to enrichment and acceleration for students in general education Acknowledgement of the limitations of the assessment process to identify some students

Cluster Models High ClusterGeneral Education Cluster High achieving general education students are clustered with identified Highly Capable students in a self-contained classroom 4-8 identified Highly Capable students are clustered in a general education classroom with a teacher specially trained to differentiate in order to meet the individual needs of the students

The Classroom Experience Instructional practices remained the same Typical adjustments to level of expectation, rigor, and pace Performance generally met or exceeded those students identified as Highly Capable with scaffolding in some cases Students fit in socially with the identified students Clustered students continued in the Honors path

Implications Need to engage families of clustered students, possibly families of identified students Need to address possible concerns about the self- contained program becoming less rigorous Consider impact on general education classrooms Opportunity to provide additional services to students with similar needs at little cost Increase equity of access for underrepresented populations; add diversity to program Transformative experience for some students/families