Parents are concerned about a new school district plan to mix elementary advanced students with students of varying ability next school year.

&uot;I’m very much opposed to it. I do not agree with,&uot; said Amber Henderson, a parent with one child in the fourth-grade and one in the eighth-grade.

However, Natchez-Adams&160;County School District officials think the plan will actually benefit the advanced students.

&uot;It’s going to help all of the kids,&uot;&160;said Superintendent Dr. Carl Davis. &uot;It’s going to help (the advanced) kids too.&uot;

Currently, advanced students are being siphoned out and placed in one class together, based on their grade level. Students were selected partly based on standardized test scores, Davis said.

But under the new system, this group will be broken down and divided into smaller groups among the other existing classes in their grade.

This idea has generated concern from some parents who worry advanced students will not get the attention and challenge they need.

Henderson, who is looking into other educational options for her children, worries her son will have a harder time concentrating and working at his skill-level under this concept.

&uot;I don’t feel like he will be getting the education that he has been,&uot; she said.

Another parent, Connie Sirman, has two children in the advanced program at McLaurin Elementary School. She also opposes the idea and does not understand why the district has not talked more to parents about it.. &uot;We are not informed of what’s going on,&uot;&160;she said.

&uot;It’s like there is an ‘invisible wall’ between the district and the parents,&uot; she said.

But district officials think the plan will give advanced students get more individual attention from the teacher and have the benefit of being a role model for other students – something they do not have in the current situation, Davis said..

&uot;I think those kids are going to be even more challenged in a small setting,&uot; he added

For example, students who were at the bottom of the advanced class, can now move to the top and be the leaders of their new class, Davis said.

And students and teachers in the regular classroom, should benefit from having the advanced students in their classroom. &uot;They can become leaders,&uot;&160;Davis said.

Students of all levels will be able to learn together.

All teachers will now be required to develop lesson plans for three levels, but officials think teachers are accustomed to this practice.

Davis said teachers teach a lesson and then break up the class so they can work with a smaller group individually while other groups do reinforcement exercises or work on other skills.

&uot;This is not difficult to do,&uot; Davis said. &uot;Teachers do it all the time.&uot;

The practice also goes along with the new emphasis on education being developed by the state. It requires districts to focus on each child’s educational growth.

&uot;What the state is saying (is) every child’s individual needs must be met and we must show gains,&uot;&160;Davis said.

Despite the current configuration of the advanced students, there is a distinction to be made between these students and those students in the same classroom who are technically classified as &uot;gifted,&uot; Davis said.

The term &uot;gifted&uot; does not apply to all these students but only to those who scored exceptionally high on state standardized tests.

Those &uot;gifted&uot;&160;students are taken out of their regular classrooms several times a week for enrichment programs. That will not change under the new system.

&uot;They’re still going to have (their) gifted classes,&uot; Davis said. &uot;As a matter of fact, it’s going to be more challenging because we are rewriting that curriculum.&uot;