Cluster Grouping

The Niskayuna Central Schools is committed to serving the academic and intellectual needs of elementary high-functioning and high-potential students.

Students in grades 3-5 who qualify for cluster grouping demonstrate the need for enriched curriculum and instruction through in-depth study or extension of the basic curriculum. Cluster grouping is a purposeful placement decision in which a defined group of students is assigned together to receive differentiated instruction in a mixed ability classroom in kindergarten through fifth grade. In elementary school, a cluster group is defined students identified as having similar academic needs and abilities in literacy (reading and writing) and/or math.

Since high ability students are not “ungifted” in the regular classroom, the purpose of cluster grouping includes providing academic peers as well as providing increased capacity for ongoing differentiation of curriculum and instruction by the regular classroom teacher. Other instructional options, including flexible skill grouping, occur within each cluster classroom or across classrooms.