Drawing on interviews with parents of public-school students in who joined learning pods for the 2020-21 school year, this paper argues that the COVID-19 pandemic may have had a narrowing effect on the worlds of children in ways that increase their socio-spatial isolation along vectors of race and class. Interviews with parents who started…

Learning a more distributed representation of the input feature space is a powerful method to boost the performance of a given predictor. Often this is accomplished by partitioning the data into homogeneous groups by clustering so that separate models could be trained on each cluster. Intuitively each such predictor is a better representative of…

The authors explored patterns of appraising tests in a large sample of 1st-year college students. Cluster analysis was used to identify homogeneous groups of 1st-year students who shared similar patterns of cognitive appraisals about testing. The authors internally validated findings with an independent sample from the same population of students…

This digest in a question and answer format, provides basic information on cluster grouping of gifted students. Questions address such concerns as: the meaning of cluster grouping, differences between cluster grouping and tracking, advantages of cluster grouping, learning needs of gifted students, the argument that gifted education is elitist, the…

This issue of a research journal on gifted education explores different perspectives on tracking in schools, the difference between equity and equality, whether equity is the enemy of excellence, and how all can be treated equally if some people are more intelligent than others. Specific articles include: (1) "Inequity in Equity: How 'Equity' Can…

This fact sheet on cluster grouping of gifted students explains what cluster groups are, contrasts cluster grouping with tracking, offers a rationale for cluster grouping, outlines the special learning needs of gifted students, lists specific skills needed by cluster teachers, points out that cluster grouping should supplement rather than replace…

This article examines cluster grouping as a viable option for meeting the needs of gifted and talented students. It also discusses the strengths and weaknesses of cluster grouping from the perspective of conclusions obtained through the implementation of cluster grouping in an elementary school district. (Contains references.) (CR)

This digest discusses research that documents the benefits of keeping gifted students together, the advantages and disadvantages of cluster grouping, and how to implement cluster grouping strategies. It argues that cluster grouping allows educators to come much closer to providing better educational services for groups of students with similar…

This document presents four issues of the Texas Association for the Gifted and Talented's quarterly publication, each of which focused on a particular theme: (1) instructional grouping options; (2) humanities and gifted students; (3) math and science; and (4) a 25th anniversary issue, "Silver Legacy: Shining on the Future for Gifted…

In this monograph, a causal-comparative, longitudinal study of cluster grouping at the elementary level is described and recommendations are made based on the findings. This study employed both quantitative and qualitative methodologies. The primary purpose of the study was to examine the effects of an existing cluster grouping program on the…

This guidebook provides a rationale and guidelines for implementing a student-driven learning approach using enrichment clusters. Enrichment clusters allow students who share a common interest to meet each week to produce a product, performance, or targeted service based on that common interest. Chapter 1 discusses different models of learning.…

Using a question-and-answer format, this research digest discusses using cluster grouping in regular classes to teach gifted students. The learning needs of gifted students, benefits of cluster grouping, the effects on peers, identification of students for the cluster group, and specific skills that are needed by cluster teachers are addressed.…

Procedures for grouping students into homogeneous subsets have long interested educational researchers. The research reported in this paper is an investigation of a set of objective grouping procedures based on multivariate analysis considerations. Four multivariate functions that might serve as criteria for adequate grouping are given and…

The Growing Giftedness Model for teaching gifted students is presented, which includes the following features: identification that relies entirely on scores and on demonstrated performance; cluster grouping during elementary school and classes dominated by gifted students at the secondary level; acceleration and enrichment; creative expression…