Accompanying the Academic Placement Committee Recommendations were the following:

1. Signature sheet (Note: the only signatory identified as a parent is also an employee of the school district.)
2. Resolution Adopted by the National Middle School Association
3. National Middle School Association Research Summary #6: Heterogeneous Grouping
4. An anonymous guide to help traditionally organized schools move beyond tracking.

Whereas, young adolescence is a period of dramatic developmental diversity deserving responsive grouping practices and Whereas, common tracking and rigid ability grouping do not accommodate this diversity and Whereas, research has demonstrated that such practices have either negative, or at best, no impact on either student achievement or self-concept.

Therefore, be it resolved that NMSA urge school personnel to implement flexible grouping practices which place student needs above organizational and instructional convenience.

Note that among the "factors critical to program success" enumerated in the summary is the following:

students were grouped by ability and/or performance for language arts and mathematics instruction.

Also note that support for heterogeneous grouping in the summary relies on Oakes and Slavin. In the Handbook of Gifted Educaion, Kulik notes that "Their conclusions, however, are based on subjective reviews and informal analyses of the literature on grouping. Oakes, for example, bases her conclusions on an idiosyncratic review of other reviews" ["Ability Grouping and Gifted Students," page 191].

HOW TO PROCEED ONCE THE DECISION IS MADE

1. To hire-or groom-a well-informed, progressive, conscientious, dedicated courageous principal to facilitate their school's campaign for better education.
2. To involve all-professionals and lay citizens-who are willing or can be persuaded to participate, drawing upon the ideas of all in the development of a truly inclusive school.
3. To read the relevant literature on tracking, grouping, and related concepts.
4. To write a philosophy or mission statement which sets forth an unwavering determination to meet all students' needs.
5. To set forth the steps, following study and deliberation, which they judge essential to their initial thrust toward an exemplary school.
6. To develop locally appropriate versions of nontracking-compatible administrative-supervisory approaches, organizational structures, curricula, and instructional methodologies--e.g., (a) site-based leadership, which recognizes the individual school as the primary locus for meamingful change; (b) teacher and student empowerment; (c) situational leadership styles; (d) teachers in mentor-protégé partnerships and peer-coaching relationships; (e) team planning and teaching; (f) nongradedness or multigradedness; (g) thematic, problem-solving, real-world, enriched, interdisciplinary subject matter; (h) continuous progress; and (i) cooperative learning.
7. To-plan both tactically (short-term) and strategically (long-term), always thinking ahead, but leaving somewhat open precisely what they want to do down the road.
8. To take risks and to be willing to accept negative consequences on the occasions when innovative initiatives fail to pay off.
9. To be somewhat impatient and never to procrastinate (e.g., champions of a five-year plan might push to see their design enacted in half that time).
10. To see setbacks and niistakes as opportunities for refinement and exploration of - alternatives, not as excuses for, throwing in the towel.
11. To build a location-appropriate inclusive school on a solid foundation, earnestly and expeditiously, but prudently, being sure one brick is firmly in place before laying the next one ("all deliberate speed" does not mean overnight).
12. To get started by setting in motion their location-appropriate plan (mañana is not good enough for our children/our students!).