Balancing student diversity.....

Teachers are expected to ensure that learning gains occur for all students in their classes. Many of their classes include students with varying levels of ability, behavioral issues, students with disabilities, among others. Sometimes teachers feel that their classes are unbalanced in terms of its diversity. Particularly, when its seems as if they have more low-level students or students with behavioral issues. This belief causes teachers to become frustrated and discontent with the creators of such rosters - administration. Their frustration often leads to the belief that students are just placed in classes without regard to their needs, or to ensure that teachers are not overwhelmed with an imbalance of students.

This summer, I had the opportunity to work with administration and our instructional coach to conduct roster reviews. Our job was to utilize data to create as much balance in classes as we possibly could. We analyzed RTI, Lexile, gender, and Milestones ELA and Math data. In addition to considering students with disabilities. This was a very daunting and tedious task. In the end, there was a good mix of students with varying needs in each class. Although I'm not certain, its would be hard to believe that such process doesn't occur in other schools.

This was a very enlightening experience for me to be a part of. Administrators are really doing a lot of hard work over the summer to try and ensure the success of students and teachers. So to all those teacher that question how students are placed in classes, I'm here to tell you that administration is diligently pouring over data to try and create balance within classes to increase student achievement, while also minimizing the stress and strain on you.