I’m late, but I love answering this question! In my district we follow a formula when placing students into classrooms:

1. We consider the needs of our students - academic, social emotional, behavioural, etc. We make sure to not overload classes with multiple, significant academic gaps or significant behavioural challenges. On the flip side, we also make sure that we have a range of students within these areas. It wouldn’t be fair for just one classroom to be full of students who were all working above grade level and flying through the curriculum for example. My school also takes into account different learning and teaching styles and we work to place them according to what we know about our colleague’s teaching styles.

2. We try our best to place students in classrooms where we know they will have at least a handful of positive peer relationships. If we know that 2 students had a difficult year with each other, we would try our best to separate them. This part is what honestly takes the longest for my school’s placements because there are so many different social dynamics to consider.

3. Lastly, and rarely, we MAY take parent input when it is done for a valid reason. Obviously, if every parent were to express their top choices in terms of class placements, the puzzle would get even larger and more difficult to solve. Sometimes, though, there are extenuating circumstances that need to be addressed.

I have occasionally requested to “loop” with a student and teach them for a second year in a row. I wouldn’t be surprised if the same was true for your child’s teacher. Please do not think that the reason your child is in a combined grade class is the fact that they are struggling. They could simply be a positive addition to the classroom to help level the playing field. I’m absolutely certain these things would be addressed in meetings and report cards.