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approach promises improved student achievement over time, for it avoids the denigrating <br />labels and identities that undermine students. Furthermore, services to exceptional <br />children are best supplied when the special educators, social workers, and classroom <br />teachers and administrators have time set aside to consult with each other in student <br />support teams. The resources of CHCCS allow a more extensive program and preparation <br />for support team collaboration than the resources of OCS. <br />Exceptions to the trend toward heterogeneity may be found in CHCCS classes for <br />exceptionally advanced (two or three levels beyond their grade level) students at Glenwood <br />Elementary, designated "Tier V' In OCS, elementary schools' provisions for AG students <br />varies, including pullout classes in reading and accelerated mathematics, as well as "push -in" <br />instruction where specialists come in to work with AG students in their general classrooms. <br />Each district maintains some advanced mathematics classes for very able students in the <br />later elementary and middle school grades. <br />Heterogeneous classes that also include children with mild to moderate learning <br />disabilities challenge teachers and administrators to offer a common curriculum, aligned <br />with standards, shaped, interpreted and extended in ways that make it accessible to <br />children who need to approach content and learning in different ways. Channeling the <br />curriculum into various streams that all flow toward the same destination is complex <br />intellectual and instructional work. Each district has made its own decision about how to <br />distribute its resources to achieve this curriculum standard of differentiated instruction, <br />aligned with standards, for heterogeneous classes. This is an area which benefits from <br />extensive professional development as it takes teams of teachers working together to <br />construct lessons that offer multiple versions of the same conceptual material, and it is <br />here that the CHCCS resources are abundant compared to OCS resources. <br />• CHCCS: Differentiation Is public education. While some p /aces <br />might talk specifically about gifted education or special needs <br />education, public education is about assessing and providing for <br />individual needs. Differentiation for all groups. <br />• OCS: We need time. Time to plan, time to assess individuals, to <br />assess where kids are so that you know where to take them. <br />Making sure that students do engaging and authentic work <br />requires differentiation. It's a challenge for newer teachers, <br />especiolly, because they're still trying to get everything else down <br />from behavior plans to curriculum. <br />• CHCCS. Adequate assessment is the greatest barrier: efficient <br />and accurate assessment. A /so staff development and follow <br />through. Most important for teachers are peer co- learning <br />opportunities Elementary schools, however, have little <br />flexibility /time to plan, talk and train. <br />CHCCS /OCS Final Report 67 <br />