Newton Public Schools staff sign petition to roll back multi-level classes; claim there is no evidence that outcomes have improved

Teachers at Newton Public Schools have signed a petition to roll back policies that “implemented multi-level classes at Newton South with no metric for success and no collection of data.” The petition states that “no evidence has been presented that the implementation of multi-level classes at Newton South has improved outcomes for any students.” Teachers view this as “an urgent problem to be solved.”

The petition then states that the district needs to “roll back multi-level classes in, at least, the Science, Mathematics, and World Languages departments beginning with the 2025-26 school year” and to “form a joint committee consisting of educators, district leaders, students, and families to identify which problems multi-level classes were intended to solve, identify possible solutions, then formulate opt-in pilot programs to be deployed during the 2025-26 school year.”

On November 4, 2024, the petition was mentioned at a Newton School Committee meeting. [Time Stamp: 6:20] Staff discussed why the petition was important at this meeting.

Multi-level classes are also known as “heterogeneous grouping.”