I found the articles on ability grouping very interesting. I know that our classrooms tend to ability group especially for reading. I do know that some of our teachers practice flexible ability grouping. When a child is in a certain group, the teacher may change his/her group according to the child's performance and instructional level changing. Is this common among the schools in the area?

I also was wondering if anyone had any first hand experience with Looping. I think that this is an interesting idea, but can't get a good feel for its effectiveness without more information from someone that has truly seen the program in action.

I've never spoken to anyone who had experienced looping. I'm not sure that it would be an effective pratice. Like you I would like to speak to an objective teacher with experience.

Hi! I use what I call "flexible performance based grouping" for Reading Instruction in First Grade. Students are given a Reading Assessment at the beginning of the school year and placed into reading groups with students whose performance on the assessment was similar to theirs. Reading assessments are administered at the end of each nine weeks and Reading Groups are redesigned according to the performance of the students. One particular student may read with the same children all year or switch groups depending on the progress of the student and the class as a whole. The idea behind the "flexible performance based grouping" at the school where I teach is that beginning readers can make the most progress in Reading when they receive daily instruction that is based on their instructional Reading Level.
I would also like to hear more about looping. Elizabeth