This year Central Middle School implemented heterogeneous classrooms in which students are no longer grouped based on performance, but are randomly grouped into the same classroom. Parents were excluded from the decision making process and learned of the initiative only after its implementation.

There is scant research to support the effectiveness of heterogeneous classrooms and in fact it has been shown to pose a risk to high achievers. The model depends on the implementation of differentiated instruction—that is, differentiating the curriculum for various levels of ability within one classroom. Recent surveys reveal that 8 out of 10 teachers and educators consider differentiated instruction to be somewhat or very difficult to implement. More often than not, it results in “teaching to the middle.”

Parents of students at every level have expressed concerns about the effect of this initiative on the education of their children. As stakeholders in our children's education, parents have the right to halt this experiment until further study can be done by an advisory panel on which parents participate.