         	//Cycle through all instantiated renderers
         	for (var i:int = 0; i < dataGroup.numChildren; i++)
         	{
-        		var renderer:ItemRenderer = dataGroup.getElementAt(i) as ItemRenderer; 
-        		//Push the correct text into the renderer if it has
-        		//a labelElement part. 
-        		if (renderer && renderer.labelElement)
+        		//TODO: Ryan, figure out numChildren/numElement vs. getElement/getChild
+        		//and which is more performant. 
+        		var renderer:IItemRenderer = dataGroup.getElementAt(i) as IItemRenderer; 
+        		//Push the correct text into the renderer by settings its labelText
+        		//property 
+        		if (renderer)
         		{
-        			renderer.labelElement.text = 
-        				LabelUtil.itemToLabel(renderer.data, labelField, labelFunction);
+        			renderer.labelText = itemToLabel(renderer.data); 
         		}
         	}
         	labelFieldOrFunctionChanged = false; 

     *  @playerversion AIR 1.5
     *  @productversion Flex 4
     */
    public function itemToLabel(item:Object):String
    {
    	return LabelUtil.itemToLabel(item, labelField, labelFunction);
    }

    //----------------------------------
    //  labelField
    //----------------------------------
    private var labelFieldOrFunctionChanged:Boolean; 
    private var _labelField:String;
    
    /**
     *  labelField
