Less Grouping by Ability in Schools Plan

There would be less grouping of students by ability in Montville schools next year as part of a plan to ensure all classes are academically rigorous, the district superintendent said Thursday in a special meeting with the .

Superintendent Dr. Paul Fried outlined some aspects of the plan in a special meeting that was held in the board offices. The plan is expected to be discussed in more detail at the Board of Education meeting scheduled for Tuesday at Cedar Hill School at 8 p.m.

Some board members said the changes would be beneficial.

"Kids know if they're in the bad class," Charles Grau said. "If they don't see anything on the horizon, there's nothing there. We've got to motivate them."

Michael Palma said in past years the students who made the cut into honors classes had more to do with when a class was filled than with students' ability levels.

Jackie Ritschel said tracking creates competition among parents within the community and leads to pushing and shoving to get into honors classes.

Fried said the district's emphasis on rankings created an environment that led students to break into the school computer system in March. Fried said he was probably the least surprised person in the district when that happened. He said the value on class rank was such that students did not just want to improve their own grades, but lower others.

Other changes that could be in store for the district:

• Creating a life skills class for special education students at
• Bringing out-of-district special education students in for the life skills class at the high school
• Providing all high school and middle school teachers with laptops.