MR / Schenectady, NY / .Yates Arts in Education Magnet School / urban public elementary school / Grade 5.Students raise hands as teacher asks questions about material they have just read silently in reading textbook during whole class reading lesson (teacher is a first-year, non-tenured teacher. Girl foreground: 10, Puerto-Rican American). The reading program takes a mixed approach to a basic education debate: ability grouping versus whole-class grouping. Some of the students' reading time is spent in whole-class lessons and the rest is spent working independently or else in small groups. These flexible arrangements allow higher-achieving students to extend their knowledge and be challenged while lower-achieving students can reinforce basic skills. .MR: AD-g5a Mel12..© Ellen B. Senisi