1. Total School Cluster Grouping & Differentiation
By April Payne

2. Goals of Total School Cluster Grouping (TSCG)
Provide full-time services to high-achieving elementary students.
Help all students improve their academic achievement and educational self-efficacy.
Help teachers more effectively and efficiently meet the diverse needs of their students.
Weave gifted education and talent development “know-how” into the fabric of all education practices in the school.
Improve representation of traditionally underserved students identified over time as above average and high achieving.
-(Gentry, p. 3)

3. Non-Negotiable Components of Cluster Grouping
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Non-Negotiable Components of Cluster Grouping
Groups of students (varying in number from three to more than 10) identified as gifted, high-achieving, or high-ability are placed in classrooms with students of other achievement levels.
Teachers differentiate curriculum and instruction.
Successful teachers of the high- ability students have an interest or background working with gifted students.
-(Gentry, p. 4)

4. The “How-To’s” of TSCG
Ability grouping takes into account factors in addition to ability, sometimes factors in place of ability (Gentry, p.8).
Possibly use the HOPE Scale to guide teachers in identification of students. (p.29).
Maintain a flexible identification process where cut-off scores and matrices should not be employed (p. 31).
Teachers complete Student Data Summary Cards, which identify achievement, discipline, attendance, etc. (p. 33).
“Place high-achieving students in one cluster and above average in other classrooms,” (p. 32).
Do not place every level of student in each classroom, (p. 32).
Do not place low-achieving with high-achieving students (p. 32).
Each teacher should have about the same number of students at or above average (p. 32).

5. Fidelity Checks For Implementation
Checklist for First Two Years of Implementation
Checklist for Years 3-5 of Implementation
All homerooms contain students that are considered above-average.
High-achieving and above average children should not be placed in same homeroom.
Teachers are actively involved in development of class lists.
Asterisks are used to designate permanent assignments.
Even distribution of students with behavioral problems.
Every teacher uses gifted education practices.
Differentiation is made easier with grouping.
Regrouping can occur among classes and grade levels.
Test scores can move students up (not down) during yearly identification.
No language about low or high classes exists.
(Gentry, p. 54)

6. Pros and Cons of Cluster Grouping and Differentiation

7. Pros of TSCG
Gifted students are given the opportunity to interact with both intellectual and age peers (Gentry, p. 14).
Without additional costs, full-time services can be provided to gifted students (p. 14).
Curricular differentiation is more likely to occur and is more efficient (p. 14).
Without highest achievers in a classroom, other achievers are able to gain recognition (p. 14).
Student achievement increases with cluster grouping (p. 14).
Over the long term, fewer students are identified as low achievers (p. 14)
Cluster grouping reduces the range of student achievement in the classroom (p. 14).

8. Cons of the TSCG
Clustering is sometimes confused with tracking. This can create a negative attitude towards clustering. An important distinction is that ability or achievement grouping is “a more flexible arrangement that takes into account factors in addition to ability, and sometimes in place of ability,” (Gentry, p. 8).
Concerns from teachers. For example, “[Y]ou take those top kids out and I’m not going to have any spark,” (Gentry, p. 23).
TSCG cannot not be fully implemented without administrator buy-in.
New students coming in may have to be temporarily placed in a classroom (p. 41).

9. Reference
Gentry, M. (2014). Total school cluster grouping and differentiation: A comprehensive, research-based plan for raising student achievement and improving teacher practice (2nd ed.). Waco, TX: Prufrock Press.