A friend of mine has her kids in a school like that. From what I've seen/heard, there's generally no problems IF the teacher is well trained and the split doesn't go past the fifth grade--that's when the age/maturity difference seems to kick in. 4/5 spilt is OK, but 5/6.... There's a lot of attitudes and maturity issues that crop up, and it's generally not where you'd want your fifth grader to be--it's just not appropriate. Everyone has needs, and the older the kids get the more pronounced it seems to be.
I hate to see a 1st/2nd split because their learning process and what they learn are so different at those ages, especially at the first of the year. Some agree that is not so bad if you have gifted 1st graders and 2nd graders that are a little behind, I just don't feel that way. I was shocked when a couple of years ago a 2/3 split was implemented in my kids school at the parents that were against it, including my husband! I lobbied hard for it even went to the SBDM to take up for it because it was only going to be for GT kids as much as possible while following KERA guidelines. I was in a 2/3 split, the best year I ever had and I was supposed to be in a 4/5 split but my mother had me moved to the teacher I wanted (yes I was rather spoiled). My son is in a 2/3 split this year. It is very challenging for him. We were told he would not be doing 3rd grade work but not only is he is surpassing my 3rd grader, he reads at a 7th grade level and he came home with a B on his report card (he wasn't too happy about that). He will probably be in it next year too. If you have the right teacher, just as in any class it should work out nice. Of course his class was nothing like mine was due to modernization!
[ 04-17-2004, 02:57 PM: Message edited by: C. Brooks ]
