Seattle Schools Community Forum: What happened when Washington Middle School dissolved Spectrum?

Seattle Schools Community Forum: What happened when Washington Middle School dissolved Spectrum?:

What happened when Washington Middle School dissolved Spectrum?

Washington Middle School decided, some time ago, to dissolve its Spectrum classes. Spectrum-eligible students at Washington would no longer be in self contained classes for English and Social Studies, but would be mixed in with the general education students, called "scholars".

The school promised that the inclusive classroom would provide more rigorous instruction for all students and that all students would benefit. Is that what happened?

Here is a link to Washington's CSIP. In it, we find the results of their experiment. But first, the propaganda:

Mission Statement: "Our mission at WMS is to create a safe, trusting, collaborative, learning-focused community where we can all be our BEST selves."

"In addition, we will create more rigorous classes by clustering Spectrum and Scholar students in all English Language Arts and Social Studies classes. This practice will end the deleterious results that come from tracking students."

How does filling a class with students of mixed abilities create more rigorous classes? Is rigor a function of who is in the room or a function of what is taught? Why couldn't the rigor of the class be increased without mixing the students? If mixing students of different abilities and achievement increases Seattle Schools Community Forum: What happened when Washington Middle School dissolved Spectrum?: