Ability grouping has few benefits and many risks according to research. When identical curricula are taught to homogeneous and heterogeneous groups, there are few advantages to homogeneous grouping in terms of academic achievement. Mixed or heterogeneous groups offer advantages like reducing stigma for less able students and maintaining high expectations for all students. Teachers require training, materials, and support to effectively teach in detracked systems. Administrators seeking to detrack will face difficult political challenges.
Heterogeneous Or Homogeneous Classrooms JaneKevin Hodgson
This document discusses the debate around homogeneous versus heterogeneous classrooms and proposes an alternative approach. It notes that homogeneous classrooms can widen achievement gaps but heterogeneous classrooms may not adequately challenge gifted students. The author argues that most education reform has moved away from the lowest homogeneous groupings and that heterogeneous classrooms work for most students, but talented and gifted programs remain important for challenging gifted students. The document concludes by questioning why accelerated learning cannot be available for all students.
This study examined the efficacy of standardized assessments in an inquiry-based science classroom. It compared student performance on multiple choice questions versus free response questions following instruction on the same content. Results showed that students performed better on free response questions, where they could explain their understanding rather than select a single correct answer. The implications are that free response questions may better measure student learning and mastery in an inquiry-based classroom compared to multiple choice. However, the study had limitations such as a small sample size and differences between the pre- and post-tests that were administered.
This action research proposal aims to address declining undergraduate retention rates of up to 30% at a large private university. The purpose is to identify factors contributing to increased drop rates, conduct surveys of current students, implement solutions like new student support services, and measure outcomes like retention rates and student satisfaction. At-risk factors include being a minority, low-income, single parent, or working part-time while enrolled. The university has open enrollment policies that attract diverse but high-risk populations. Proposed solutions center on improved student services, resources for at-risk groups, and increased faculty interaction to boost retention.
This document outlines a research proposal on examining the relationship between college students' attendance behavior, self-esteem, and locus of control. The proposal includes an introduction describing the importance of attendance and defining key terms. A literature review presents studies showing relationships between attendance and academic performance, self-esteem and academic performance, and relationships between self-esteem and locus of control. The methodology section describes a descriptive research design and objectives to examine attendance behavior, self-esteem, locus of control, and relationships among these variables. The study aims to understand factors influencing students' class attendance.
This document summarizes a presentation on data-based decision making for grouping and service delivery models for gifted students. It discusses various placement and programming options like acceleration and enrichment. It provides research on the benefits of acceleration, such as improved achievement, and issues to consider with acceleration. It also reviews types of enrichment and research findings. Different grouping models are outlined along with their strengths and weaknesses.
This document summarizes research on total school cluster grouping, an approach to gifted education that places high-achieving students into clusters within general education classrooms. Key findings include:
- Student achievement increased for both high-achieving students and other students in cluster grouped classrooms compared to traditional classrooms.
- Cluster grouping allowed for flexible identification and placement of students based on achievement levels, improving how teachers viewed student ability.
- Professional development in gifted education strategies benefited all students and teachers by improving general education practices.
- When implemented well with strong leadership, cluster grouping can provide gifted services while helping all teachers better meet student needs.
1) The study examined the effectiveness of different teaching methods (lecture, lecture/discussion, jigsaw, case study, team project) in a large introductory retailing class. 2) Assessment of student learning found that the jigsaw method led to the greatest improvement, followed by case study and lecture. The team project method showed the least improvement. 3) A survey found that students most preferred the lecture/discussion method and least preferred the jigsaw and lecture methods.
Heterogeneous Or Homogeneous Classrooms JaneKevin Hodgson
This document discusses the debate around homogeneous versus heterogeneous classrooms and proposes an alternative approach. It notes that homogeneous classrooms can widen achievement gaps but heterogeneous classrooms may not adequately challenge gifted students. The author argues that most education reform has moved away from the lowest homogeneous groupings and that heterogeneous classrooms work for most students, but talented and gifted programs remain important for challenging gifted students. The document concludes by questioning why accelerated learning cannot be available for all students.
This study examined the efficacy of standardized assessments in an inquiry-based science classroom. It compared student performance on multiple choice questions versus free response questions following instruction on the same content. Results showed that students performed better on free response questions, where they could explain their understanding rather than select a single correct answer. The implications are that free response questions may better measure student learning and mastery in an inquiry-based classroom compared to multiple choice. However, the study had limitations such as a small sample size and differences between the pre- and post-tests that were administered.
This action research proposal aims to address declining undergraduate retention rates of up to 30% at a large private university. The purpose is to identify factors contributing to increased drop rates, conduct surveys of current students, implement solutions like new student support services, and measure outcomes like retention rates and student satisfaction. At-risk factors include being a minority, low-income, single parent, or working part-time while enrolled. The university has open enrollment policies that attract diverse but high-risk populations. Proposed solutions center on improved student services, resources for at-risk groups, and increased faculty interaction to boost retention.
This document outlines a research proposal on examining the relationship between college students' attendance behavior, self-esteem, and locus of control. The proposal includes an introduction describing the importance of attendance and defining key terms. A literature review presents studies showing relationships between attendance and academic performance, self-esteem and academic performance, and relationships between self-esteem and locus of control. The methodology section describes a descriptive research design and objectives to examine attendance behavior, self-esteem, locus of control, and relationships among these variables. The study aims to understand factors influencing students' class attendance.
This document summarizes a presentation on data-based decision making for grouping and service delivery models for gifted students. It discusses various placement and programming options like acceleration and enrichment. It provides research on the benefits of acceleration, such as improved achievement, and issues to consider with acceleration. It also reviews types of enrichment and research findings. Different grouping models are outlined along with their strengths and weaknesses.
This document summarizes research on total school cluster grouping, an approach to gifted education that places high-achieving students into clusters within general education classrooms. Key findings include:
- Student achievement increased for both high-achieving students and other students in cluster grouped classrooms compared to traditional classrooms.
- Cluster grouping allowed for flexible identification and placement of students based on achievement levels, improving how teachers viewed student ability.
- Professional development in gifted education strategies benefited all students and teachers by improving general education practices.
- When implemented well with strong leadership, cluster grouping can provide gifted services while helping all teachers better meet student needs.
1) The study examined the effectiveness of different teaching methods (lecture, lecture/discussion, jigsaw, case study, team project) in a large introductory retailing class. 2) Assessment of student learning found that the jigsaw method led to the greatest improvement, followed by case study and lecture. The team project method showed the least improvement. 3) A survey found that students most preferred the lecture/discussion method and least preferred the jigsaw and lecture methods.
The document summarizes a research proposal that aims to determine if increasing student motivation to read independently correlates with improved test scores. The study will use a quasi-experimental design comparing MAP test results of students who participate in a reading motivation program versus a control group. If a correlation is found, it could provide evidence that improving reading motivation strategies positively impacts student academic success and literacy.
Response to Intervention: A Component in a Novel Educational Service Delivery...schoolpsychology
Response to Intervention (RTI) is a multi-tiered framework for providing educational resources efficiently based on student need. It involves universal screening, progress monitoring, and increasingly intensive interventions. Students identified as at-risk through screening receive evidence-based classroom interventions and those not responding move to more intensive tiers involving small group and individualized instruction. Data-based decision making guides placement and instructional changes. The example school implements RTI through three tiers of instruction and intervention, with some students responding adequately to core instruction while others require more support.
1. Effective use of teacher rating systems requires universities to educate interpreters, students, and faculty on how to use the ratings appropriately and understand their purpose and limitations.
2. While a teacher's effectiveness is tied to student learning, teachers have limited control over factors impacting learning and students share responsibility for their own learning. As a result, defining teacher effectiveness is complex.
3. Research finds that student ratings can provide a valid assessment of teaching effectiveness if they reflect views of many students across courses, especially when used alongside other evaluation methods. However, certain student and instructor factors like course level may minimally impact ratings.
This document outlines a tiered model of academic intervention. Tier 1 involves standards-based classroom learning for all students. Tier 2 provides targeted instruction and interventions for some students in addition to Tier 1. Tier 3 includes specially designed learning with accommodations and modifications for a small number of students through IEPs or other plans. The tiers increase in intensity of intervention and decrease in number of students involved from Tier 1 to Tier 3.
This document summarizes a case study examining the impact of a reading intervention program called Academic Literacy 9 at Eastview High School. The study compared reading growth between students in the intervention program, a control group not in the program, and typical 9th grade students. Results showed students in the intervention program grew in reading three times faster than peers on standardized tests. Engagement and self-efficacy were also moderately correlated with reading growth for students in the program. The study provides evidence that targeted intervention can significantly improve reading for struggling high school students.
Behind the Test Scores: What Struggling Readers Really Need rathx039
- The document describes a study that identified six distinct profiles of students who failed a 4th grade state reading test. The profiles were determined by analyzing students' performance on assessments of word identification, meaning (comprehension and vocabulary), and fluency.
- Most students were not weak in all areas, but rather had specific strengths and weaknesses. For example, some students could decode words automatically but failed to comprehend what they read.
- The profiles provide insight into struggling readers' needs that can help teachers provide targeted instruction to help students succeed.
Assessing the Assessment: An Evaluation of a Self-Assessment of Class Partici...Eddy White, Ph.D.
Recently published online in the Asian EFL Journal (September, 2009), this article is part of my doctoral research into assessment for learning (AfL) in an EFL/ESL context with adult learners.
This document discusses Response to Intervention (RTI) and its implementation through a multi-tiered model. RTI aims to identify students who need additional academic support early through ongoing assessment and data-based decision making. It uses a 3-tiered approach where students receive increasingly intensive instruction and intervention at each tier. At Tier 1, all students receive core instruction and are assessed to identify struggling learners. Tier 2 provides targeted small group instruction. Tier 3 offers intensive individualized intervention that may indicate a need for special education services. Collaboration between general and special educators is important for successful RTI implementation.
Differentiation in the senior mathematics classroomrouwejan
The document discusses differentiation in the senior mathematics classroom. It explores using differentiation techniques, such as flexible grouping and varied tasks, to improve student achievement. The author found that differentiation created opportunities for both low and high achievers by providing instruction tailored to different learning levels. When the class was split into ability-based groups, student engagement and achievement increased, especially for lower-ability students. This reinforced the importance of delivering material at varied levels and incorporating differentiation principles.
This article summarizes a study that surveyed 32 students across three grade levels about their perceptions of inclusion classrooms versus pull-out classrooms for special education services. The study found that most students preferred pull-out over inclusion, finding inclusion classrooms focused more on learning but pull-out provided extra help. However, student views varied and both models were seen as meeting student needs, supporting a continuum of special education delivery models based on individual student need.
Response To Intervention (RTI) presentationRobert Kulanda
The document discusses Response to Intervention (RTI), which is an approach used to provide early, systematic, and appropriately intensive assistance to children who are at risk for or already experiencing learning or behavioral difficulties. Some key points:
- RTI requires that all school districts have an RTI plan in place by January 2009 and implement scientific, research-based interventions for students by the 2010-2011 school year.
- RTI consists of three tiers - tier 1 involves high-quality classroom instruction for all students, tier 2 involves supplemental instruction for some students at risk, and tier 3 involves intensive, individualized interventions for a small number of students.
- The goals of RTI are to intervene early when
Steve Vitto Response to Intervention (RTI)Steve Vitto
A recent presentation on Response to Intervention and relating the three tier model to evidenced based behavioral supports (i.e., as it applies to classroom management , strategic interventions and interventions for intensive behaviors).
Response to Intervention (RtI) is a multi-tiered framework that uses data-driven decision-making to identify students who may need additional academic or behavioral support. It involves providing high-quality classroom instruction and interventions of increasing intensity based on student progress. RtI includes ongoing progress monitoring to determine student needs and evaluate the effectiveness of interventions. Implementation of RtI varies across federal, state, and local policies and guidelines.
Student Perspectives of Peer Assessment for Learning in a Public Speaking courseEddy White, Ph.D.
This article was published online in the Asian EFL Journal in January, 2009. It forms part of my doctoral research into assessment for learning (AfL) in an EFL context with adult learners.
RtI Best Practices for Henderson Elementary Scenario 3Heidi Veal
This document provides an overview of Response to Intervention (RTI) best practices. It discusses using prevention and early intervention to promote student success. The core characteristics of RTI include using research-based practices, addressing academics and behavior, employing a problem-solving model, and monitoring student progress over time. It also describes the three tiers of support - Tier 1 being core instruction for all, Tier 2 being strategic interventions for 10-15% of students, and Tier 3 being intensive interventions for 1-5% of students. The document outlines universal screeners, intervention resources, progress monitoring tools, and expectations for RTI documentation.
The document summarizes an action research paper that examined the effectiveness of intensified grammar review in developing the writing skills of selected learners in Tañong Integrated School. Questionnaires were used to check learners' progress before and after several sessions of daily grammar review conducted by educators. The results showed a significant improvement in learners' grammar knowledge and writing outcomes after the intensified grammar review. It was concluded that intensifying grammar instruction through regular review is an effective way to help learners develop their writing and comprehension skills.
The document discusses reporting test results to parents. It defines stakeholders in education and notes that parents play a vital role. Effective parent-teacher conferences are important for sharing information, overcoming misunderstandings, and fostaining cooperation between home and school. Both parents and teachers should prepare for conferences by having a plan, beginning and ending positively, and using good communication skills. The goals of conferences are to discuss student strengths and weaknesses, social skills, home-school connections, and other relevant information.
This document discusses Response to Intervention (RTI), focusing on implementation at the primary level. It provides a brief history of RTI, outlining its origins in the 1970s-80s and its establishment as a framework in the 2004 reauthorization of IDEA. The summary describes the multi-tiered RTI framework, including universal screening and differentiated instruction at Tier 1, more targeted small group interventions at Tier 2, and individualized interventions and evaluations at Tier 3. It also lists some advantages and disadvantages of the RTI model.
The document summarizes a study that explores the effects of cooperative learning on English listening, reading, oral proficiency, and learning motivation in college conversation classes. It presents the purposes of the study, research questions, literature review, methodology used, and findings. The methodology section describes using experimental and control groups, pre- and post-tests, and questionnaires to measure the impact of cooperative versus traditional learning approaches.
This document discusses ability grouping in education. It defines ability grouping and describes how students can be grouped either between or within classes based on performance data. Students are taught at a level and pace suited to their ability group. The theory behind ability grouping is that it allows teachers to better meet student needs. While research shows benefits for high-achieving students, it also indicates risks to self-esteem and less effects for middle and lower students. The document concludes by recommending ability grouping if implemented and monitored correctly to improve student learning outcomes.
This document discusses different methods for grouping students in language classes, including their advantages and disadvantages. Whole-class teaching allows the teacher to gauge the mood of the class but may not encourage individual responsibility. Individualized learning addresses differences but lacks a sense of belonging. Pairwork increases speaking time but is noisy, while groupwork promotes cooperation but some students may not enjoy it. The document provides tips for organizing various grouping methods, such as considering friendship, ability levels and gender in forming pairs or groups, and monitoring students during and providing feedback after activities.
The document summarizes a research proposal that aims to determine if increasing student motivation to read independently correlates with improved test scores. The study will use a quasi-experimental design comparing MAP test results of students who participate in a reading motivation program versus a control group. If a correlation is found, it could provide evidence that improving reading motivation strategies positively impacts student academic success and literacy.
Response to Intervention: A Component in a Novel Educational Service Delivery...schoolpsychology
Response to Intervention (RTI) is a multi-tiered framework for providing educational resources efficiently based on student need. It involves universal screening, progress monitoring, and increasingly intensive interventions. Students identified as at-risk through screening receive evidence-based classroom interventions and those not responding move to more intensive tiers involving small group and individualized instruction. Data-based decision making guides placement and instructional changes. The example school implements RTI through three tiers of instruction and intervention, with some students responding adequately to core instruction while others require more support.
1. Effective use of teacher rating systems requires universities to educate interpreters, students, and faculty on how to use the ratings appropriately and understand their purpose and limitations.
2. While a teacher's effectiveness is tied to student learning, teachers have limited control over factors impacting learning and students share responsibility for their own learning. As a result, defining teacher effectiveness is complex.
3. Research finds that student ratings can provide a valid assessment of teaching effectiveness if they reflect views of many students across courses, especially when used alongside other evaluation methods. However, certain student and instructor factors like course level may minimally impact ratings.
This document outlines a tiered model of academic intervention. Tier 1 involves standards-based classroom learning for all students. Tier 2 provides targeted instruction and interventions for some students in addition to Tier 1. Tier 3 includes specially designed learning with accommodations and modifications for a small number of students through IEPs or other plans. The tiers increase in intensity of intervention and decrease in number of students involved from Tier 1 to Tier 3.
This document summarizes a case study examining the impact of a reading intervention program called Academic Literacy 9 at Eastview High School. The study compared reading growth between students in the intervention program, a control group not in the program, and typical 9th grade students. Results showed students in the intervention program grew in reading three times faster than peers on standardized tests. Engagement and self-efficacy were also moderately correlated with reading growth for students in the program. The study provides evidence that targeted intervention can significantly improve reading for struggling high school students.
Behind the Test Scores: What Struggling Readers Really Need rathx039
- The document describes a study that identified six distinct profiles of students who failed a 4th grade state reading test. The profiles were determined by analyzing students' performance on assessments of word identification, meaning (comprehension and vocabulary), and fluency.
- Most students were not weak in all areas, but rather had specific strengths and weaknesses. For example, some students could decode words automatically but failed to comprehend what they read.
- The profiles provide insight into struggling readers' needs that can help teachers provide targeted instruction to help students succeed.
Assessing the Assessment: An Evaluation of a Self-Assessment of Class Partici...Eddy White, Ph.D.
Recently published online in the Asian EFL Journal (September, 2009), this article is part of my doctoral research into assessment for learning (AfL) in an EFL/ESL context with adult learners.
This document discusses Response to Intervention (RTI) and its implementation through a multi-tiered model. RTI aims to identify students who need additional academic support early through ongoing assessment and data-based decision making. It uses a 3-tiered approach where students receive increasingly intensive instruction and intervention at each tier. At Tier 1, all students receive core instruction and are assessed to identify struggling learners. Tier 2 provides targeted small group instruction. Tier 3 offers intensive individualized intervention that may indicate a need for special education services. Collaboration between general and special educators is important for successful RTI implementation.
Differentiation in the senior mathematics classroomrouwejan
The document discusses differentiation in the senior mathematics classroom. It explores using differentiation techniques, such as flexible grouping and varied tasks, to improve student achievement. The author found that differentiation created opportunities for both low and high achievers by providing instruction tailored to different learning levels. When the class was split into ability-based groups, student engagement and achievement increased, especially for lower-ability students. This reinforced the importance of delivering material at varied levels and incorporating differentiation principles.
This article summarizes a study that surveyed 32 students across three grade levels about their perceptions of inclusion classrooms versus pull-out classrooms for special education services. The study found that most students preferred pull-out over inclusion, finding inclusion classrooms focused more on learning but pull-out provided extra help. However, student views varied and both models were seen as meeting student needs, supporting a continuum of special education delivery models based on individual student need.
Response To Intervention (RTI) presentationRobert Kulanda
The document discusses Response to Intervention (RTI), which is an approach used to provide early, systematic, and appropriately intensive assistance to children who are at risk for or already experiencing learning or behavioral difficulties. Some key points:
- RTI requires that all school districts have an RTI plan in place by January 2009 and implement scientific, research-based interventions for students by the 2010-2011 school year.
- RTI consists of three tiers - tier 1 involves high-quality classroom instruction for all students, tier 2 involves supplemental instruction for some students at risk, and tier 3 involves intensive, individualized interventions for a small number of students.
- The goals of RTI are to intervene early when
Steve Vitto Response to Intervention (RTI)Steve Vitto
A recent presentation on Response to Intervention and relating the three tier model to evidenced based behavioral supports (i.e., as it applies to classroom management , strategic interventions and interventions for intensive behaviors).
Response to Intervention (RtI) is a multi-tiered framework that uses data-driven decision-making to identify students who may need additional academic or behavioral support. It involves providing high-quality classroom instruction and interventions of increasing intensity based on student progress. RtI includes ongoing progress monitoring to determine student needs and evaluate the effectiveness of interventions. Implementation of RtI varies across federal, state, and local policies and guidelines.
Student Perspectives of Peer Assessment for Learning in a Public Speaking courseEddy White, Ph.D.
This article was published online in the Asian EFL Journal in January, 2009. It forms part of my doctoral research into assessment for learning (AfL) in an EFL context with adult learners.
RtI Best Practices for Henderson Elementary Scenario 3Heidi Veal
This document provides an overview of Response to Intervention (RTI) best practices. It discusses using prevention and early intervention to promote student success. The core characteristics of RTI include using research-based practices, addressing academics and behavior, employing a problem-solving model, and monitoring student progress over time. It also describes the three tiers of support - Tier 1 being core instruction for all, Tier 2 being strategic interventions for 10-15% of students, and Tier 3 being intensive interventions for 1-5% of students. The document outlines universal screeners, intervention resources, progress monitoring tools, and expectations for RTI documentation.
The document summarizes an action research paper that examined the effectiveness of intensified grammar review in developing the writing skills of selected learners in Tañong Integrated School. Questionnaires were used to check learners' progress before and after several sessions of daily grammar review conducted by educators. The results showed a significant improvement in learners' grammar knowledge and writing outcomes after the intensified grammar review. It was concluded that intensifying grammar instruction through regular review is an effective way to help learners develop their writing and comprehension skills.
The document discusses reporting test results to parents. It defines stakeholders in education and notes that parents play a vital role. Effective parent-teacher conferences are important for sharing information, overcoming misunderstandings, and fostaining cooperation between home and school. Both parents and teachers should prepare for conferences by having a plan, beginning and ending positively, and using good communication skills. The goals of conferences are to discuss student strengths and weaknesses, social skills, home-school connections, and other relevant information.
This document discusses Response to Intervention (RTI), focusing on implementation at the primary level. It provides a brief history of RTI, outlining its origins in the 1970s-80s and its establishment as a framework in the 2004 reauthorization of IDEA. The summary describes the multi-tiered RTI framework, including universal screening and differentiated instruction at Tier 1, more targeted small group interventions at Tier 2, and individualized interventions and evaluations at Tier 3. It also lists some advantages and disadvantages of the RTI model.
The document summarizes a study that explores the effects of cooperative learning on English listening, reading, oral proficiency, and learning motivation in college conversation classes. It presents the purposes of the study, research questions, literature review, methodology used, and findings. The methodology section describes using experimental and control groups, pre- and post-tests, and questionnaires to measure the impact of cooperative versus traditional learning approaches.
This document discusses ability grouping in education. It defines ability grouping and describes how students can be grouped either between or within classes based on performance data. Students are taught at a level and pace suited to their ability group. The theory behind ability grouping is that it allows teachers to better meet student needs. While research shows benefits for high-achieving students, it also indicates risks to self-esteem and less effects for middle and lower students. The document concludes by recommending ability grouping if implemented and monitored correctly to improve student learning outcomes.
This document discusses different methods for grouping students in language classes, including their advantages and disadvantages. Whole-class teaching allows the teacher to gauge the mood of the class but may not encourage individual responsibility. Individualized learning addresses differences but lacks a sense of belonging. Pairwork increases speaking time but is noisy, while groupwork promotes cooperation but some students may not enjoy it. The document provides tips for organizing various grouping methods, such as considering friendship, ability levels and gender in forming pairs or groups, and monitoring students during and providing feedback after activities.
This document defines homogeneous and heterogeneous mixtures. A homogeneous mixture has uniform appearance and composition throughout, examples being solutions. A heterogeneous mixture contains visibly distinct substances or phases like solids, liquids and gases that are not uniformly distributed or broken down chemically. Several examples are provided and classified as either homogeneous or heterogeneous to illustrate the difference between the two types of mixtures.
Difference between Homogeneous and HeterogeneousFaraz Qaisrani
Muhammad Faraz Qaisrani from the 2nd Batch at Benazir Bhutto Shaheed University discusses types of distributed database management systems (DDBMS). There are two main types: homogeneous, where all data centers use the same software, and heterogeneous, where different data centers may use different database products. Homogeneous systems are easier to design and manage but can be difficult for organizations to implement uniformly. Heterogeneous systems allow integration of existing databases but require translations between different hardware and software.
The document discusses different ways teachers can group students in the classroom, including whole-class teaching, individual work, pairwork, and groupwork. It outlines the advantages and disadvantages of each approach, and provides guidance on organizing effective pair and groupwork through considerations like task type, creating diverse groups, and establishing procedures. The goal is to encourage cooperation while maximizing student participation and independence.
This document discusses the author's experiences using ability grouping and differentiated instruction in their classroom. Some key points:
1) The author uses within-class ability grouping, where students are regrouped by ability for certain subjects like math and reading. Groups work at different paces based on their needs and abilities.
2) The author differentiates instruction using various strategies tailored to different learning abilities, including reading, writing, spelling, and math activities.
3) Technology is incorporated to support ability grouping, through interactive websites, writing tools, and math games tailored to different levels.
The effect of ability grouping on students’york1896
1) The document summarizes research on the effect of ability grouping on students' reading strategies, achievement, and motivation in cooperative learning groups. It reviews literature on reading comprehension, cooperative learning, and learning motivation.
2) The study involved 43 university students in Taiwan placed in either heterogeneous or homogeneous reading ability groups. They completed pre-and post-tests of reading comprehension, strategy use, and motivation over one semester.
3) The results were analyzed using independent t-tests to examine differences between groups, and correlations to examine relationships among reading achievement, strategy use, and motivation. Student interviews also explored motivations in the cooperative learning context.
This document provides guidance on organizing pair work and group work in the classroom. It discusses considerations for creating pairs and groups such as friendship, ability streaming, and chance. It also outlines strategies for success like providing a time limit and monitoring groups. Troubleshooting tips are provided for issues like groups finishing early or awkward group dynamics, such as changing group members or separating friends.
Network effects. It’s one of the most important concepts for business in general and especially for tech businesses, as it’s the key dynamic behind many successful software-based companies. Understanding network effects not only helps build better products, but it helps build moats and protect software companies against competitors’ eating away at their margins.
Yet what IS a network effect? How do we untangle the nuances of 'network effects' with 'marketplaces' and 'platforms'? What’s the difference between network effects, virality, supply-side economies of scale? And how do we know a company has network effects?
Most importantly, what questions can entrepreneurs and product managers ask to counter the wishful thinking and sometimes faulty assumption behind the belief that “if we build it, they will come” … and instead go about more deterministically creating network effects in their business? Because it's not a winner-take-all market by accident.
Academic outcomes of ability grouping among junior high school students in ho...jlps0601
1. The study assessed the academic outcomes of ability grouping among junior high school students in Hong Kong.
2. It found that ability grouping had a slightly negative effect on students' self-esteem and test anxiety but a positive effect on academic self-concept. Students in high-ability groups had higher academic self-concepts and achievement compared to those in low-ability groups.
3. Parents' education levels did not significantly impact student placement in ability-grouped classes.
TESOL 2013 Handouts Checklist (Do you do these in the language classroom?): E...Beth Crumpler
These are the teacher/ student checklists that accompany my PowerPoint of my TESOL 2013 Presentation- ESL Instruction Developing Your Skills to Become a Master Conductor uploaded to Slideshare
The practice of English language teaching- Grouping studentsDerick Lourens
This chapter discusses different ways to group students for classroom activities. It identifies grouping students into whole classes, pairs, individually, and groups. Each grouping method has advantages and disadvantages depending on the lesson objective. The chapter also provides guidance on organizing pair and group work, such as forming groups strategically, establishing clear routines and procedures, and being prepared to troubleshoot issues. Overall, the chapter aims to help teachers choose optimal grouping strategies based on their lessons.
All cells need energy to function, which they obtain through glucose. Autotrophic cells produce their own glucose through photosynthesis using sunlight, carbon dioxide, and water. Heterotrophic cells obtain glucose through other means. Glucose is converted to ATP through cellular respiration, releasing energy. Photosynthesis uses chlorophyll and other pigments to convert sunlight, carbon dioxide and water into glucose and oxygen through a series of chemical reactions in chloroplasts. Cellular respiration breaks down glucose and oxygen in mitochondria to produce water, carbon dioxide, and ATP.
The document outlines the scientific attitude that scientists and students studying science should possess. It lists 14 attributes that comprise scientific attitude, including curiosity, determination, open-mindedness, objectivity, humility, skepticism, patience, empathy, intellectual honesty, perseverance, self-confidence, and ethics. Each attribute is further explained with examples of famous scientists who embodied that quality such as Isaac Newton, Alexander Graham Bell, and Louis Pasteur.
This document discusses thinking styles and how knowing students' thinking styles can benefit online learning. It presents the Sternberg-Wagner Thinking Style Inventory which measures thinking along dimensions of scope, leaning, and legislative/executive/judicial styles. Knowing students' thinking styles allows program designers and faculty to plan and deliver curriculum in a way that engages students and helps them discover how they learn best, increasing academic success. The document recommends that program designers, faculty, and students themselves should be aware of thinking style information.
The study of personality uses scientific methods like developing theories, hypotheses, and research to understand human behavior. Theories can be inductive, based on observations, or deductive, with testable propositions. Researchers use experimental, correlational, and case study methods to test theories. Experiments manipulate variables to measure effects, while correlations study relationships between variables without proving causation. Case studies provide in-depth analysis of individuals. Theories are evaluated based on how comprehensive, precise, parsimonious, empirically valid, heuristically valuable, and applicable they are.
The document summarizes a study on the benefits of group work for students' oral performance. It finds that group work provides academic, social, and psychological advantages for students. It allows students to learn from each other, develop their oral communication skills, and creates a friendly environment where shy students feel more comfortable expressing themselves. The study uses an experimental method to examine the effects of group work on a sample of first-year English students in Algeria.
This document discusses several topics related to individual differences that are of interest to managers, including mental functioning, emotional intelligence, personality, perception, attitudes, and values. It provides information on intelligence and cognitive styles, the Myers-Briggs personality test, the dimensions of emotional intelligence, major personality theories and traits, locus of control, sources of perceptual distortions, types of values and work values across generations, and models of attitude formation and change. Understanding these individual differences can help managers with selection, placement, training, motivation, and leadership of employees.
Lucia Martin & Ervin Patrick - Tracking & Ability Multimedia Presentationervinpatrick
The document discusses the practice of tracking and ability grouping in schools. It defines tracking as assigning students to different classes based on test scores, while ability grouping involves temporarily placing students in classes based on skill level. Research has found mixed results on the benefits, with high-achieving students showing higher achievement but lower-tracked students falling further behind over time. Critics argue tracking leads to inequitable resources and outcomes between groups and reinforces social stratification.
1. The document examines research on whether detracking (reducing or eliminating tracking of students by ability into different academic classes) promotes greater social equity. While supporters believe it helps disadvantaged students, the research is ambiguous and detracking could potentially have negative effects.
2. One study found detracking lowered achievement for average and high-ability students while slightly improving scores for low-ability students. However, this comes at the expense of lowering overall achievement. Detracking may also cause high-achieving "bright flight" as their parents move them to different schools.
3. Research also shows students in detracked algebra classes did not learn as much as those in tracked classes, across all ability levels. This calls
This document summarizes an article about educating students with varying achievement levels in the same classroom. It discusses the history of tracking students by ability into separate classrooms and the movement to detrack schools in the 1970s-1980s. Research shows negative impacts of detracking on high-achieving students. The document also profiles a school that uses differentiated instruction and fluid reading groups to challenge students at their levels while keeping classrooms heterogeneous.
Absenteeism in the College Classroom.pdfRhonda Cetnar
This document discusses a study that explored student and teacher perceptions of absenteeism in college classrooms. Interviews were conducted with students and teachers to understand their experiences with absenteeism. Three primary themes emerged from the data: influence of student self-perception, influences outside the university, and influence of the university classroom. The results suggest absenteeism is a systemic issue that impacts academic performance. Understanding student and teacher perspectives could help educators address absenteeism in their courses to improve attendance.
Ability Grouping And Academic AchievementRenee Lewis
This document discusses ability grouping in education. It defines ability grouping as assigning students to different classes based on their abilities or academic achievement. The document examines various types of ability grouping, such as within-class grouping and between-class tracking. It explores research on the benefits and disadvantages of ability grouping, finding that it can benefit high-achieving students but may hinder low-achieving students or cause them to feel stigmatized. The document also analyzes factors that influence the effectiveness of ability grouping, such as subject area and student grade level.
The literacy team was tasked with making recommendations to improve literacy at PHS based on research. They asked questions about what should be done across the curriculum, in English classes, and for struggling students. The report discusses two domains - academic achievement and attitudes/dispositions. Regarding academics, it questions why some students lack necessary knowledge and skills by high school and what research shows works. For attitudes, it questions what habits and dispositions should be taught in freshman classes and how they can be supported schoolwide. The report also summarizes Hirsch's arguments that content-based curricula better prepare students versus theories de-emphasizing knowledge.
This paper was presented at the European Educational Research Conference in Switzerland in 2005 - it covers the longitudinal research on the use of action research as professional development.
THE EFFECTS OF A MIXED-ABILITY CLASSROOM 1 Th.docxAbhinav816839
This study aims to determine if transitioning from homogeneous ability classrooms to mixed-ability classrooms at Sand Rock High School improves student scores on the STAR mathematics test. Data shows proficiency drops after 4th and 7th grade when ability grouping begins. The researcher will create one mixed-ability 7th grade class and two homogeneous ability classes, with students switching teachers mid-year. Scores will be compared over the school year to see if the mixed-ability approach leads to higher proficiency. It is hypothesized that collaboration opportunities in mixed-ability settings will boost confidence and achievement for all students.
This document provides background information and context for a study on assessment methods used by English teachers to help underachieving readers in Grade 7. It discusses how reading is an important skill and some students struggle more than others. Factors like motivation, intelligence, language skills, and home environment can impact reading ability. The study aims to understand teachers' assessment methods and how they support underachieving readers. It will examine assessment tools, problems teachers face, and activities to enhance reading performance. The findings could help teachers, students, parents, and future researchers improve reading instruction and support.
Running head CASE STUDY ESSAY 1 Case St.docxjoellemurphey
Running head: CASE STUDY ESSAY 1
Case Study Essay
Sung Kim
University at Albany
CASE STUDY ESSAY 2
Case Study Essay
The practice referred to as “tracking” started as a response to the incursion of immigrant
children joining America’s schools in the early 20th century. To provide efficient education to
these immigrants who arrived in large population, it was significant to sort the children into
various tracks based on their past performance or ability. As stated by a school reformer called
Ellwood P. Cubberley in 1909, “Our city schools will soon be compelled to abandon the
exceedingly democratic idea that all are equal and our community devoid of classes… and start a
specialization of educational effort along numerous lines.” The process of sorting children into
different tracks was made easy by IQ test and standardized achievement tests.
In the early days of tracking, high school students and junior high students were given
assignments to evaluate them academically, and through vocational tracks. At the extreme, many
students received grooming to prepare them for college and others were being prepared to enter
trades such as secretarial work and plumbing. In the mid-century, many schools had mastered
some form of tracking. Presently, the extreme form of tracking has diminished because
policymaker, political players, and educators hold the fear that America is almost losing its
competitive edge (Burris & Garrity, 2008). This compelled educators to ensure that all the
students are grilled to have access to a rigorous academic curriculum. Politicians and states
passed minimum graduation standards that demanded that students must take a particular number
of courses in core subjects such as Mathematics, English, Science and Social studies. Later on,
during 1983, A Nation at Risk report made a recommendation that tougher standards are set and
in the ensuing two decades, the percentage of students taking four years of each academic
subject escalated profoundly.
Cubberley (1909), "Our..." (p. ?).
CASE STUDY ESSAY 3
With laying emphasis on preparing all the students for college, tracking plays an
important role of grouping students by ability within subjects. In every subject, students must be
assigned to advance, basic and regular courses depending on their performance. For example,
students in advanced track may opt to pursue pre-calculus as juniors in high school and calculus
as seniors, while students in basic tracks must take as far as geometry or algebra II. The
development of Advanced Placement courses is one example of the manner in which tracking
has become a long-standing groundwork.
It is noteworthy that the amount of fluidity and the methods by which students are
assigned tracks within a particular tracking system varies depending on the school’s mission.
Some schools may allow students to be placed into advanced class for a single subject, w ...
Achievement Gaps In Education: Findings of Different Ethnic Groupskgballer23
The document discusses factors that contribute to achievement gaps between different ethnic groups. It finds that black and Hispanic students change schools more often than white students, which can negatively impact literacy rates. Students from low socioeconomic backgrounds and urban environments face greater psychological and physical barriers. Implementing learner-centered programs in schools has been shown to increase achievement scores and develop skills like self-efficacy. To close achievement gaps, teachers must raise students' self-concepts and support is needed from the government and society beyond just within schools.
Effective STEM Education Strategies for Diverse and Underserved Learners Elaine Machado
This document discusses effective STEM education strategies for diverse and underserved learners from multiple theoretical perspectives. It describes how the cognitively based perspective focuses on developing students' scientific reasoning and argumentation skills by connecting to their everyday knowledge and discourse practices. The cross-cultural perspective addresses how some students' cultural ways of knowing may differ from Western science and how instruction can help students navigate between contexts. Equitable opportunities involve valuing students' experiences, explicitly connecting them to scientific practices, and providing sufficient resources to support learning.
Identifying the attitudes and traits of teachers with an at-risk student popu...Mastura Kamal
This document summarizes a study that aimed to identify the attitudes and traits of teachers who are effective at teaching at-risk students in a diverse, urban high school (Mendoza High School). Through interviews and a focus group with teachers, administrators, and counselors, the researchers identified several supportive attitudes and traits, including being culturally responsive, focusing on small successes, encouraging students, flexibility, and caring. Relationships with students and viewing oneself as a difference-maker were also seen as important. Non-supportive traits included blaming, racial attitudes, inflexibility due to frustration, co-dependency, and lack of respect for community/parents. Overall, forming relationships and caring for students were seen as core to effective
The document discusses a football team that loses half of its games each year. The coaches focus on finding complex plays each week instead of mastering the basic fundamentals of blocking. As a result, the players are confused and never fully learn the plays. The solution is for coaches to stop introducing new plays and instead focus on teaching effective blocking techniques until the players have mastered them. This will lead to improved performance by the team.
This document provides a summary of key points from E.D. Hirsch's book "Cultural Literacy" and research on improving literacy. It discusses how Hirsch argues that focusing on building students' background knowledge and content mastery, rather than vague skills or motivations, is most effective for improving literacy. It also notes that reading comprehension depends heavily on domain-specific knowledge, and that teaching abstract reading strategies without background knowledge has high opportunity costs by depriving students of learning.
POWERFUL PEDAGOGY FOR AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDENTS. A Case of Four Teachers. TYR...eraser Juan José Calderón
POWERFUL PEDAGOGY FOR AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDENTS. A Case of Four Teachers. TYRONE C. HOWARD
The Ohio State University
The disproportionate underachievement of African American students may suggest that teacher effectiveness with this student population has been limited. However, amidst these widespread academic failures, characterizations of effective
teachers of African American students have emerged in an attempt to reverse these
disturbing trends. This article examines the findings from a qualitative case study
of four elementary school teachers in urban settings. The findings reveal teaching
practices consistent with various norms espoused by African American students in
a manner that could be termed “culturally relevant.” In this article, three of the
major pedagogical themes are discussed: holistic instructional strategies, culturally consistent communicative competencies, and skill-building strategies to promote academic success.
Florida Atlantic University Research Symposium 03152013Ayiti Now Corp
Florida Atlantic University and the Miami based non-profit organization “Ayiti Now Corp” are collaborating to provide a culturally-relevant literacy intervention to Haitian teachers and Haitian children of poverty.
This document discusses the challenges of teaching science to adolescent learners in the 21st century. It examines the cognitive abilities of adolescents across five domains: adaptability, complex communication/social skills, non-routine problem-solving skills, self-management/self-development, and systems thinking. The document argues that adolescent learners face unique challenges compared to younger students due to their cognitive development. It recommends that science education be tailored to capitalize on adolescents' abilities while addressing the constraints of their stage of development.
How to Add Chatter in the odoo 17 ERP ModuleCeline George
In Odoo, the chatter is like a chat tool that helps you work together on records. You can leave notes and track things, making it easier to talk with your team and partners. Inside chatter, all communication history, activity, and changes will be displayed.
Main Java[All of the Base Concepts}.docxadhitya5119
This is part 1 of my Java Learning Journey. This Contains Custom methods, classes, constructors, packages, multithreading , try- catch block, finally block and more.
বাংলাদেশের অর্থনৈতিক সমীক্ষা ২০২৪ [Bangladesh Economic Review 2024 Bangla.pdf] কম্পিউটার , ট্যাব ও স্মার্ট ফোন ভার্সন সহ সম্পূর্ণ বাংলা ই-বুক বা pdf বই " সুচিপত্র ...বুকমার্ক মেনু 🔖 ও হাইপার লিংক মেনু 📝👆 যুক্ত ..
আমাদের সবার জন্য খুব খুব গুরুত্বপূর্ণ একটি বই ..বিসিএস, ব্যাংক, ইউনিভার্সিটি ভর্তি ও যে কোন প্রতিযোগিতা মূলক পরীক্ষার জন্য এর খুব ইম্পরট্যান্ট একটি বিষয় ...তাছাড়া বাংলাদেশের সাম্প্রতিক যে কোন ডাটা বা তথ্য এই বইতে পাবেন ...
তাই একজন নাগরিক হিসাবে এই তথ্য গুলো আপনার জানা প্রয়োজন ...।
বিসিএস ও ব্যাংক এর লিখিত পরীক্ষা ...+এছাড়া মাধ্যমিক ও উচ্চমাধ্যমিকের স্টুডেন্টদের জন্য অনেক কাজে আসবে ...
This document provides an overview of wound healing, its functions, stages, mechanisms, factors affecting it, and complications.
A wound is a break in the integrity of the skin or tissues, which may be associated with disruption of the structure and function.
Healing is the body’s response to injury in an attempt to restore normal structure and functions.
Healing can occur in two ways: Regeneration and Repair
There are 4 phases of wound healing: hemostasis, inflammation, proliferation, and remodeling. This document also describes the mechanism of wound healing. Factors that affect healing include infection, uncontrolled diabetes, poor nutrition, age, anemia, the presence of foreign bodies, etc.
Complications of wound healing like infection, hyperpigmentation of scar, contractures, and keloid formation.
How to Setup Warehouse & Location in Odoo 17 InventoryCeline George
In this slide, we'll explore how to set up warehouses and locations in Odoo 17 Inventory. This will help us manage our stock effectively, track inventory levels, and streamline warehouse operations.
LAND USE LAND COVER AND NDVI OF MIRZAPUR DISTRICT, UPRAHUL
This Dissertation explores the particular circumstances of Mirzapur, a region located in the
core of India. Mirzapur, with its varied terrains and abundant biodiversity, offers an optimal
environment for investigating the changes in vegetation cover dynamics. Our study utilizes
advanced technologies such as GIS (Geographic Information Systems) and Remote sensing to
analyze the transformations that have taken place over the course of a decade.
The complex relationship between human activities and the environment has been the focus
of extensive research and worry. As the global community grapples with swift urbanization,
population expansion, and economic progress, the effects on natural ecosystems are becoming
more evident. A crucial element of this impact is the alteration of vegetation cover, which plays a
significant role in maintaining the ecological equilibrium of our planet.Land serves as the foundation for all human activities and provides the necessary materials for
these activities. As the most crucial natural resource, its utilization by humans results in different
'Land uses,' which are determined by both human activities and the physical characteristics of the
land.
The utilization of land is impacted by human needs and environmental factors. In countries
like India, rapid population growth and the emphasis on extensive resource exploitation can lead
to significant land degradation, adversely affecting the region's land cover.
Therefore, human intervention has significantly influenced land use patterns over many
centuries, evolving its structure over time and space. In the present era, these changes have
accelerated due to factors such as agriculture and urbanization. Information regarding land use and
cover is essential for various planning and management tasks related to the Earth's surface,
providing crucial environmental data for scientific, resource management, policy purposes, and
diverse human activities.
Accurate understanding of land use and cover is imperative for the development planning
of any area. Consequently, a wide range of professionals, including earth system scientists, land
and water managers, and urban planners, are interested in obtaining data on land use and cover
changes, conversion trends, and other related patterns. The spatial dimensions of land use and
cover support policymakers and scientists in making well-informed decisions, as alterations in
these patterns indicate shifts in economic and social conditions. Monitoring such changes with the
help of Advanced technologies like Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems is
crucial for coordinated efforts across different administrative levels. Advanced technologies like
Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems
9
Changes in vegetation cover refer to variations in the distribution, composition, and overall
structure of plant communities across different temporal and spatial scales. These changes can
occur natural.
How to Manage Your Lost Opportunities in Odoo 17 CRMCeline George
Odoo 17 CRM allows us to track why we lose sales opportunities with "Lost Reasons." This helps analyze our sales process and identify areas for improvement. Here's how to configure lost reasons in Odoo 17 CRM
it describes the bony anatomy including the femoral head , acetabulum, labrum . also discusses the capsule , ligaments . muscle that act on the hip joint and the range of motion are outlined. factors affecting hip joint stability and weight transmission through the joint are summarized.
ISO/IEC 27001, ISO/IEC 42001, and GDPR: Best Practices for Implementation and...PECB
Denis is a dynamic and results-driven Chief Information Officer (CIO) with a distinguished career spanning information systems analysis and technical project management. With a proven track record of spearheading the design and delivery of cutting-edge Information Management solutions, he has consistently elevated business operations, streamlined reporting functions, and maximized process efficiency.
Certified as an ISO/IEC 27001: Information Security Management Systems (ISMS) Lead Implementer, Data Protection Officer, and Cyber Risks Analyst, Denis brings a heightened focus on data security, privacy, and cyber resilience to every endeavor.
His expertise extends across a diverse spectrum of reporting, database, and web development applications, underpinned by an exceptional grasp of data storage and virtualization technologies. His proficiency in application testing, database administration, and data cleansing ensures seamless execution of complex projects.
What sets Denis apart is his comprehensive understanding of Business and Systems Analysis technologies, honed through involvement in all phases of the Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC). From meticulous requirements gathering to precise analysis, innovative design, rigorous development, thorough testing, and successful implementation, he has consistently delivered exceptional results.
Throughout his career, he has taken on multifaceted roles, from leading technical project management teams to owning solutions that drive operational excellence. His conscientious and proactive approach is unwavering, whether he is working independently or collaboratively within a team. His ability to connect with colleagues on a personal level underscores his commitment to fostering a harmonious and productive workplace environment.
Date: May 29, 2024
Tags: Information Security, ISO/IEC 27001, ISO/IEC 42001, Artificial Intelligence, GDPR
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Find out more about ISO training and certification services
Training: ISO/IEC 27001 Information Security Management System - EN | PECB
ISO/IEC 42001 Artificial Intelligence Management System - EN | PECB
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) - Training Courses - EN | PECB
Webinars: https://pecb.com/webinars
Article: https://pecb.com/article
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For more information about PECB:
Website: https://pecb.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/pecb/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PECBInternational/
Slideshare: http://www.slideshare.net/PECBCERTIFICATION
Reimagining Your Library Space: How to Increase the Vibes in Your Library No ...Diana Rendina
Librarians are leading the way in creating future-ready citizens – now we need to update our spaces to match. In this session, attendees will get inspiration for transforming their library spaces. You’ll learn how to survey students and patrons, create a focus group, and use design thinking to brainstorm ideas for your space. We’ll discuss budget friendly ways to change your space as well as how to find funding. No matter where you’re at, you’ll find ideas for reimagining your space in this session.
Walmart Business+ and Spark Good for Nonprofits.pdfTechSoup
"Learn about all the ways Walmart supports nonprofit organizations.
You will hear from Liz Willett, the Head of Nonprofits, and hear about what Walmart is doing to help nonprofits, including Walmart Business and Spark Good. Walmart Business+ is a new offer for nonprofits that offers discounts and also streamlines nonprofits order and expense tracking, saving time and money.
The webinar may also give some examples on how nonprofits can best leverage Walmart Business+.
The event will cover the following::
Walmart Business + (https://business.walmart.com/plus) is a new shopping experience for nonprofits, schools, and local business customers that connects an exclusive online shopping experience to stores. Benefits include free delivery and shipping, a 'Spend Analytics” feature, special discounts, deals and tax-exempt shopping.
Special TechSoup offer for a free 180 days membership, and up to $150 in discounts on eligible orders.
Spark Good (walmart.com/sparkgood) is a charitable platform that enables nonprofits to receive donations directly from customers and associates.
Answers about how you can do more with Walmart!"
A workshop hosted by the South African Journal of Science aimed at postgraduate students and early career researchers with little or no experience in writing and publishing journal articles.
This presentation was provided by Steph Pollock of The American Psychological Association’s Journals Program, and Damita Snow, of The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), for the initial session of NISO's 2024 Training Series "DEIA in the Scholarly Landscape." Session One: 'Setting Expectations: a DEIA Primer,' was held June 6, 2024.
This slide is special for master students (MIBS & MIFB) in UUM. Also useful for readers who are interested in the topic of contemporary Islamic banking.
Chapter 4 - Islamic Financial Institutions in Malaysia.pptx
Pdf GROUPING STUDENTS
1. 5: GROUPING STUDENTS FOR INSTRUCTION
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
RESEARCH FINDINGS
Ability grouping has been found to have few benefits and many risks. When
homogeneous and heterogeneous groups of students are taught identical curricula, there
appear to be few advantages to homogeneous grouping in terms of academic
achievement. More able students make greater academic progress when separated from
their fellow students and given an accelerated course of study. Less able students who are
segregated from their more able peers are at risk of being taught an inferior curriculum
and consigned to low tracks for their entire academic career. Teachers assigned to higher
tracks and parents of bright students prefer ability grouping. Teachers in lower tracks are
less enthusiastic and need support in the form of materials and instructional techniques to
avoid the disadvantages of tracking.
RECOMMENDATIONS
• Mixed or heterogeneous ability or achievement groups offer several
advantages:
1) less able pupils are at reduced risk of being stigmatized and exposed to
a “dumbed-down” curriculum;
2) teachers’ expectations for all pupils are maintained at higher levels;
3) opportunities for more able students to assist less able peers in learning
can be realized.
• Teachers asked to teach in a “de-tracked” system will require training,
materials and support that are largely lacking in today’s schools.
• Administrators seeking to “detrack” existing programs will require help in
navigating the difficult political course that lies ahead of them.
2. 5: GROUPING STUDENTS FOR INSTRUCTION
BY GENE V GLASS
ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY
The sorting of students into homogeneous ability and achievement groups is
nearly as old as universal compulsory education in the United States. The grouping of
students by ability or achievement forms a continuum that extends from “reading groups”
(the redbirds, bluebirds, and canaries) at one end to tracking and even segregation of
students between school districts at the other. While the one extreme may be a matter
strictly of professional pedagogical judgment, the other extreme may represent the impact
of broad social forces outside the control of any one educator or group of professionals.
This review will touch on each point across this continuum.
The seemingly simple notion of grouping pupils by their ability for instruction
proves, upon closer examination, to be very complex with many variations. Within-class
grouping, between-class grouping, the Joplin plan, XYZ grouping, gifted classes,
academic tracks, charter schools – the inclination to sort students comes in many forms
and has a long history. Otto found evidence of homogeneous achievement grouping of
pupils as far back as the nineteenth century in America’s schools.1 The Santa Barbara
Concentric Plan of the early 1900s divided classes into A, B and C groups who received
three levels of curriculum based on their past performance.
The pedagogical justification for homogeneous grouping centers on the role of the
teacher: with students grouped by ability or achievement, the teacher is able to focus
more instruction at the level of all the students in the group; thus, time is not wasted as
bright students wait for elementary explanations to be given to their slower classmates,
Student Grouping 5.1
3. and slow students are not troubled with instruction that is over their heads. Bright
students are thought to need a faster pace and enriched material; low-ability students are
thought to require remediation, repetition, and more reviews. Slower students, it is felt,
will be better off shielded from competition with their brighter classmates; more able
students will not become complacent by comparing themselves with slow students, and
they will be spurred to higher levels of achievement by competing with their own kind.
These images, not unfamiliar to teachers and parents alike, are rife with assumptions
about the nature of human intelligence, the conditions of learning, the development of
students’ self-perceptions, and the behavior of teachers, only a few of which are tested in
the research literature.
Ability grouping enjoyed wide professional and public acceptance beginning in
the heyday of the “scientific” movement in education (from Edward L. Thorndike, to
Lewis M. Terman, to the post-WW II era) and extending to the post-Sputnik era of
emphasis on enriching curriculum for the gifted.2 Homogeneous grouping in the form of
tracking received severe criticism in the last quarter of the 20th century. James
Rosenbaum’s Making Inequality 3 and Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis’s Schooling in
Capitalist America4 saw ability grouping as not just perpetuating but creating
disadvantages for poor and minority students. Jeannie Oakes’s Keeping Track5 prompted
vigorous debate regarding the effects of homogeneous grouping. Tracking’s detractors
leveled charges of stigmatizing students, and consigning them to inferior and “dumbed-
down” instruction. Homogeneous grouping was not completely without its supporters.
Thomas Loveless concluded: “The primary charges against tracking are (1) that it doesn’t
accomplish anything and (2) that it unfairly creates unequal opportunities for academic
Student Grouping 5.2
4. achievement. What is the evidence? Generally speaking, research fails to support the
indictment.”6
STUDENT GROUPING RESEARCH
Researchers approaching this policy question from different points on the
disciplinary compass have reached different conclusions about the value of homogeneous
grouping. The issue of homogeneous grouping not only separates researchers and
scholars, it separates social classes and ethnic groups as well. Ability grouping is nearly
universally condemned by scholars from minority ethnic groups (e.g., Braddock7,
Darling-Hammond8, Esposito9). Why these various groups have arrived at conflicting
conclusions and what educators should make of their conflicting recommendations is the
central question to be resolved in this review.
THE PREVALENCE OF HOMOGENEOUS GROUPING
How common is it for teachers and schools to separate students into groups of
similar ability or achievement for purposes of instruction?
In part, estimates of the incidence of homogeneous grouping depend on how one
asks the question. Public sentiment and professional judgment have turned against strict
ability (IQ) grouping of the XYZ-type that first made an appearance in the 1920s.
Beginning in 1919, the Detroit public schools administered intelligence tests, divided the
distribution of students into strictly ordered ability groups – X, Y and Z – and taught the
same curriculum to all three groups. This Huxleyesque scheme, so reminiscent of the
Alphas and Betas in Brave New World, would be found unconstitutional in the present
day. (Indeed, in Hobson v. Hansen, the tracking of students into ability groups in the
Washington, D.C. schools was ruled to be a violation of Fourteenth Amendment rights.10)
Student Grouping 5.3
5. Ask educators today if they track pupils into “ability groups,” and they will probably say
“No.” Ask them if they group students homogeneously by achievement to facilitate
instruction, and their answer is likely to be “Yes.” While grouping is currently based on
past performance rather than measured academic aptitude, the results are probably not
much different, given the reasonably high correlation between achievement and
aptitude.11
Hoffer12 reported data from the Longitudinal Study of American Youth that
addressed the incidence of tracking in mathematics and science in more than 50 middle
schools of the late 1980s. About 40% of the schools tracked students for science teaching
in Grade 7; this figure rose to 50% in Grade 8. For mathematics instruction, 80% tracked
in Grade 7 and more than 90% tracked in Grade 8. These data are supported by Epstein
and MacIver’s13 survey, also performed in the late 1980s. Survey respondents were asked
“For which academic subjects are students assigned to homogeneous classes on the basis
of similar abilities or achievement levels?” Homogeneous grouping was practiced in two-
thirds of the middle schools in some or all subjects at Grade 5 and in three-quarters of the
schools at Grade 8 (See Table 5-1). Surveys of homogeneous grouping in elementary
grades would show even higher incidences, where the proverbial redbirds, bluebirds, and
canaries are almost ubiquitous.
Student Grouping 5.4
6. TABLE 5-1
MIDDLE SCHOOLS CLASSIFIED BY TRACKING
IN SOME OR ALL SUBJECTS: 1988
With Percents by Columns
(After Epstein & MacIver, 1990)
Tracking in… Grade 5 Grade 6 Grade 7 Grade 8
All Subjects 23% 22% 22% 23%
Some Subjects 40% 44% 47% 50%
No Tracking 37% 34% 31% 27%
These surveys may underestimate the incidence of homogeneous grouping in the
nation’s public schools. Even the most inexperienced administrator knows that this issue
divides teachers, parents, and other stakeholders in our schools. Complete candor on
questionnaires received in the mail or in reply to questions posed by some ephemeral
visitor to one’s school is not only unlikely, it could even be disruptive. Visitors to schools
who enter them on different terms and who press for deeper answers might place the
incidence of homogeneous grouping at levels even higher than these surveys. In an
interview on his book Savage Inequalities, Jonathan Kozol remarked: “Virtually every
school system I visit, with a few exceptions, is entirely tracked, although they don’t use
that word anymore.”14 Whichever figure one might accept – two-thirds, three-quarters, or
100% – the conclusion seems inescapable that homogeneous grouping of students by
ability or achievement is virtually endemic in American education.
Open enrollment plans in which students choose from among a set of courses also
produces stratification of schools by ability groups. Sam Lucas has documented this
Student Grouping 5.5
7. phenomenon in his book Tracking Inequality: Stratification and Mobility in American
High Schools.15 Welner has observed the same pattern of sorting entering the school
system in the form of choice programs:
…tracking under a choice regime resembles tracking under the more rigid
tracking regimes of the past.16
For many district students, choice was more apparent than real. Scheduling
conflicts constrained some students’ choices in ways that perpetuated tracking
(e.g., taking a lower-level math class prevented scheduling of a higher-level
English class). For other students, … the course selection process amounted to
little more than accepting the schools’ recommendations.17
Who Wants to Group Students: Teachers or Parents?
A survey published by the National Education Association in 1968 indicated that
at least 75% of teachers preferred to teach homogeneously grouped classes.18 Teachers’
affinity for ability grouping disappears among teachers who are assigned the lower-
tracked classes.19 Contemporary surveys, though lacking, would likely duplicate this
finding. It is not difficult to understand why teachers’ jobs are made easier by teaching
students in groups of similar achievement levels. However, it is not clear whether
homogeneous grouping is intrinsically more effective or whether it is preferred because
of an absence of curriculum materials and instructional techniques designed for
heterogeneous groups.
Teachers’ preferences for homogeneous grouping must surely be matched or even
exceeded by parents’ preferences for the same, at least the preferences of educated and
wealthier parents to have their children placed in the highest groups. Parents’
interventions into tracking decisions are common. Highly educated parents have been
found more likely to push for high track placements than other parents.20 Oakes and
Wells studied 10 middle schools and high schools in their research on “detracking”
Student Grouping 5.6
8. secondary education and found that middle-class suburban values and norms are strong
reinforcers of tracking.21
MULTIPLE PERSPECTIVES ON THE EFFECTIVENESS OF ABILITY GROUPING
The topic of grouping students for instruction has been studied by researchers
from quite different perspectives. On the one hand, educational psychologists have
focused on academic achievement narrowly construed as performance on paper-and-
pencil tests and self-esteem scales. Sociologists have taken a broader view that
encompasses students’ academic careers, and the opportunities and services offered
students in different groups and tracks. Indeed, on this particular topic, it is fair to say
that two different disciplines – psychology, and particularly educational psychology on
the one hand, and sociology on the other – have focused on different aspects of this
phenomenon and have arrived at different conclusions.
Educational Psychologists’ View
Research on ability grouping by educational psychologists has a very long history,
dating from the very beginnings of educational research itself. As early as 1916,
Whipple22 studied students in the Urbana, Illinois, school system who had been grouped
into homogeneous gifted classes. A handful of major studies – which themselves review
and integrate the findings of dozens of primary studies extending over several decades –
now forms the empirical basis of most persons’ opinions about the effects of ability
grouping on achievement: the Kulik and Kulik23 and the Slavin24 meta-analyses for
elementary and secondary school ability grouping.
Since the meta-analyses25 play a key role in forming an evaluation of the efficacy
of homogeneous grouping, a brief explanation of this technique is in order. Meta-analysis
Student Grouping 5.7
9. is a statistical technique used to combine and integrate the findings – themselves
expressed statistically – of many individual empirical studies. In its simplest form, as an
example, a meta-analysis might collect a hundred studies of the correlation of
achievement and ability and report that the correlation coefficients ranged from 0.25 to
0.85 with an average correlation of 0.62. When the primary research studies being “meta-
analyzed” involve comparing two groups – for example, students taught in homogeneous
(condition A) v. heterogeneous (condition B) groups – it is common to express the
findings of each primary study in a form known as an effect size. An effect size that
describes the difference between two groups is defined as a mean difference (between
conditions A and B) in units of the within-condition standard deviation:
Mean(A) – Mean(B)
ES =
σ
The value of ES reveals the degree of superiority of condition A over condition B
(or, B over A in the event that ES has a negative value). Under the assumption of
normally distributed scores, an average ES of +1.0 indicates that the average student in
condition A scores above 84% of the students in condition B. The concept of the effect
size applied to standardized achievement test data enjoys a fortuitous coincidence. It is an
empirical fact that the standard deviation of most achievement tests is 1.0 years in grade
equivalent units. Consequently, an effect size of 1.0 implies that the average superiority
of condition A over condition B is one year in grade equivalent units. Likewise, an effect
size of 0.50 implies that students in A achieve, on average, 5 months in grade equivalent
units above students in condition B.
Student Grouping 5.8
10. The Kuliks’ Meta-analyses.
Kulik and Kulik26 integrated the findings of 52 experimental and quasi-
experimental studies of the effect of ability grouping on achievement of secondary school
students. The results of their analysis showed that the benefits in terms of academic
achievement of ability grouping were virtually absent in all cases, with the exception of
the comparisons of high-ability students in gifted classes vs. their counterparts in mixed-
ability classes. When the effects for different subjects (math, science, reading, social
studies), standardized vs. locally relevant tests, and objective vs. non-objective tests were
examined, no consistent benefits were seen for ability grouping. When Kulik and Kulik
examined the effects of ability grouping at the elementary school level, they found small
but positive effects in reading and mathematics for both within-class and between-class
ability grouping. Effect sizes were approximately 0.30 for high-ability students and
declined to less than 0.20 for low-ability students. There emerges in the Kuliks’ meta-
analyses the first hint that the benefits of ability grouping may be due to the fact that
high-ability students receive an enriched curriculum in homogeneous classes (as
described, for example, by Oakes27). This conclusion was given further substantiation in
Kulik’s meta-analysis of enrichment and accelerated programs for gifted and talented
students that, when compared to gifted students in heterogeneous classes, yielded effects
sizes of 0.40 for enrichment classes and 0.90 for accelerated classes. The Kuliks’ meta-
analyses were the first to challenge reviews like that of Good and Marshall28 that
recommended against all forms of ability grouping.
The Slavin Meta-analyses.
The Kulik and Kulik meta-analyses contrast somewhat with the meta-analyses
Student Grouping 5.9
11. (called “best evidence syntheses”) published by Robert Slavin29 in 1986 and 1990.
Slavin, who relied on a good deal more selectivity in forming the database of studies on
ability grouping before attempting to integrate their findings, drew conclusions from the
body of work that questioned the efficacy of homogeneous grouping for instruction at the
secondary school level:
“Comprehensive between-class ability grouping plans have little or no effect on
the achievement of secondary students, at least as measured by standardized tests.
This conclusion is most strongly supported in Grades 7-9, but the more limited
evidence that does exist from Grades 10-12 also fails to support any effect of
ability grouping.”30
At the elementary school level, Slavin31 concluded that the research supported
modest but reliable benefits of within-class ability grouping for mathematics at the
intermediate grades and benefits for reading achievement of the Joplin plan for all
elementary grades. (In the Joplin plan, students are grouped across grades into intact
classes for reading instruction, in which reading is taught in the same manner to the
whole class, or at most two groups within the class; students then return to their principal
grade assignment for all other instruction.) The seeming discrepancy between Slavin’s
and Kulik and Kulik’s conclusions (Slavin being considerably more pessimistic about
homogeneous grouping at the secondary school level than the Kuliks) is resolved when
the criteria for inclusion of studies in the meta-analyses are examined. Whereas Kulik and
Kulik threw a fairly broad net over the body of literature traditionally identified as ability
grouping research, Slavin excluded studies that did not attempt to standardize curriculum
among the various homogeneously formed groups that were compared. Slavin’s interest
was in isolating the unique effect of having students learn in homogeneous groups, not in
evaluating how curriculum may become differentiated (enriched in high ability groups,
Student Grouping 5.10
12. “dumbed down” in low ability groups) among homogeneous groups. Indeed, Slavin
issued a warning that is seldom acknowledged in brief or journalistic accounts of this
research:
…there is an important limitation to this conclusion [of no beneficial effect of
ability grouping]. In most of the studies that compared tracked to untracked
grouping plans…, tracked students took different levels of the same courses (e.g.,
high, average, or low sections of Algebra 1). Yet much of the practical impact of
tracking, particularly at the senior high school level, is on determining the nature
and number of courses taken in a given area. The experimental studies do not
compare students in Algebra 1 to those in Math 9…. The conclusions drawn …
are limited, therefore, to the effects of between-class grouping within the same
courses, and should not be read as indicating a lack of differential effects of
tracking as it affects course selection and course requirements.”32
[Added emphasis shown in boldface.]
The findings of the Kulik & Kulik and the Slavin meta-analyses are summarized
in Table 5-2.
TABLE 5-2
AVERAGE EFFECT SIZES FROM THE
KULIK & KULIK AND SLAVIN META-ANALYSES
OF ABILITY GROUPING STUDIES
Ability Grouping Type Grade Kulik Slavin
Level & Kulik
Within-Class K-6 +.20 +.30
Joplin Plan K-6 +.30 +.45
XYZ Ability Grouping 7-12 .00 .00
Enriched for Gifted K-12 +.40
Accelerated for Gifted K-12 +.90
Student Grouping 5.11
13. What becomes clear from examination of the above results is that, whatever
benefits may accrue from the grouping of students into homogeneous ability groups for
instruction, these benefits pale beside the benefits that accrue to gifted students when they
are separated from their classmates and given enriched and accelerated curricula.
Proponents of ability grouping have sometimes made extraordinary reaches to
supply their position with empirical warrants. Allan reached toward the research on “peer
modeling” from educational psychology:
Further, the idea that lower ability students will look up to gifted students as role
models is highly questionable. Children typically model their behavior after the
behavior of other children of similar ability who are coping well with school.
Children of low and average ability do not model themselves on fast learners.33 It
appears that “watching someone of similar ability succeed at a task raises the
observer’s feelings of efficiency and motivates them to try the task.”34 Students
gain most from watching someone of similar ability “cope” (that is, gradually
improve their performance after some effort), rather than watching someone who
has attained “mastery” (that is, can demonstrate perfect performance from the
outset).35
These are extraordinary claims, if true, because they seem to oversimplify the
complex dynamics of children’s lives in real classrooms. Indeed, the most generous thing
that may be said for the research basis of this claim is that it is oversimplified and was
never intended as justification for such positions. Schunk’s review of “peer models and
children’s behavioral change” focuses entirely on short-term (a few minutes or hours),
staged incidences in laboratories where children observe “models” performing artificial
tasks, for the most part. In fact, Schunk excluded from his review studies of “natural peer
interactions, [and] … tutoring or peer teaching.”36 Moreover, this literature lacks any
definition of what a “peer” is. At one point, Schunk concluded that, of four experiments
involving observational learning of cognitive skills or novel responses, “Each of these
studies supports the idea that model competence enhances observational learning.”37
Student Grouping 5.12
14. Schunk continues:
Social cognitive theory [predicts both that] Children should be more likely to
pattern their behaviors after models who perform successfully than to emulate
less-successful models, [and that] models who are dissimilar in competence to
observers exert more powerful effects on children’s behavior. … Similarity in
competence may be more important in contexts where children cannot readily
discern the functional value of behavior; for example, when they lack task
familiarity, when there is no objective standard of performance, or when modeled
actions are followed by neutral consequences.38
In other words, similar competence may be important – this theory seems to say –
in those circumstances where children have no basis for inferring what the competence of
the “model” is. If the reader thinks that this entire line of research bears scarcely a
tenuous relationship to classroom practice and education policy, he or she is joined in
those doubts by Schunk himself, who wrote: “Given the present lack of classroom-based
research, drawing implications for educational practices is a speculative venture.”39 No
research appeared to correct this “lack” between Schunk’s review in 1987 and Allan’s
use of it in 1991.
Sociologists’ View
Not surprisingly, psychologists acted like psychologists when they studied the
effects of ability grouping: they contrived experiments, wrote paper-and-pencil tests, and
sought objective evidence of superior test performance. When sociologists turned their
attention to the tracking of students into ability groups, they acted like sociologists:
spending time in schools observing; interviewing teachers, parents, and students; asking
questions about opportunities, preconceptions; and wondering about what this form of
schooling had to do with the larger society of which it was one small part.
Gamoran40 found that students in low tracks or ability groups were less likely to
attend college than students in higher tracks. That lower tracks receive a poorer quality
Student Grouping 5.13
15. curriculum, less experienced teachers, and teachers with lower expectations for their
students’ performance has been observed by several researchers, including Gamoran,41
Oakes,42 Persell,43 Rosenbaum.44
Jeannie Oakes has been a consistent critic of homogeneous grouping of students
at all levels of the educational system. Her research,45 dating from the late 1970s, has
drawn on the evidence accumulated in literally thousands of person-hours of observation
of teachers and students in tracked classes and schools. She has presented her findings
forthrightly and forcefully:
Tracking does not equalize educational opportunity for diverse groups of students.
It does not increase the efficiency of schools by maximizing learning
opportunities for everyone…. Tracking does not meet individual needs.
Moreover, tracking does not increase student achievement.
What tracking does, in fact, appears to be quite the opposite. Tracking seems to
retard the academic progress of many students – those in average and low groups.
Tracking seems to foster low self-esteem among these same students and promote
school misbehavior and dropping out. Tracking also appears to lower the
aspirations of students who are not in the top groups. And perhaps most
important, in view of all of the above, is that tracking separates students along
socioeconomic lines, separating rich from poor, whites from nonwhites. The end
result is that poor and minority children are found far more often than others in
the bottom tracks.46
Even proponents of tracking into ability groups have acknowledged that research
“has verified again and again . . . that many low-track classes are deadening, non-
educational environments.”47 What is more, assignment to a low track is seldom followed
by later reassignment to middle or high tracks. The professed intention of assignment to
lower tracks being a transitional remedial period for the purpose of bringing students
back up to speed is seldom realized.48
In summarizing research on tracking from the sociological perspective, Welner
and Mickelson wrote:
Student Grouping 5.14
16. In a nutshell, this substantial body of research demonstrates that low-track classes
are consistently characterized by lowered expectations, reduced resources, rote
learning, less-skilled teachers, amplified behavioral problems, and an emphasis on
control rather than learning.… The extant empirical research has also
demonstrated that low-track classes are rarely remedial; that is, students placed in
a lower track tend not to move later to higher tracks and, in fact, suffer from
decreased ambitions and achievement…. Track placements, while increasingly
subject to parental and student choice, remain highly rigid and highly correlated
to race and class-over and above measured academic achievement….49
Although he does not present himself as a sociologist, Jonathan Kozol has earned
a reputation over nearly forty years as a perceptive and credible observer of America’s
schools, particularly the schools that suffer the multiple insults of severe poverty. Kozol’s
1991 book, Savage Inequalities: Children in America’s Schools, detailed his observations
of the extreme inequities experienced by the poor and particularly the ethnic minority
poor in U.S. schools. Tracking played a prominent role in most of the schools he visited.
In an interview for the magazine Educational Leadership, Kozol was asked the following
question:
Interviewer: Let’s talk a little bit about curriculum innovations–for instance, the
idea of reaching at-risk kids in ways that are usually reserved for the gifted.
Teaching algebra to remedial students, for instance. Dissolving the tracking
system. What are your opinions about these solutions to problems of inequity?
Kozol: Tracking! When I was a teacher, tracking had been thoroughly discredited.
But during the past 12 years, tracking has come back with a vengeance. …We
have these cosmetic phrases like “homogeneous grouping.” It’s tracking, by
whatever name, and I regret that very much. It’s not just that tracking damages the
children who are doing poorly, but it also damages the children who are doing
very well, because, by separating the most successful students–who are often also
affluent, white children–we deny them the opportunity to learn something about
decency and unselfishness. We deny them the opportunity to learn the virtues of
helping other kids. All the wonderful possibilities of peer teaching are swept away
when we track our schools as severely as we are doing today.50
Why Such Different Views?
Two groups of scholars – educational psychologists on the one hand and
educational sociologists on the other – come to quite different conclusions on the value of
Student Grouping 5.15
17. homogeneous grouping of students for instruction. Why? The answer lies in what they
look for and how they look for it. Psychologists have tended to focus on short-run
comparisons of different ability groups exposed to the same curriculum; they have
evaluated the effects of grouping with paper-and-pencil tests of achievement. For
example, only nine of the 52 studies in the Kuliks’ meta-analysis of secondary school
ability grouping involved any formal adaptation of the curriculum to the ability level of
the students.
Sociologists have taken a broader view of the various effects that ensue from the
separation of students into homogeneous groups: the curriculum they receive, the type of
instruction they are given, the social climate that is created and how it might shape their
long-range plans, and the like. In large part, then, these two groups have been observing
different phenomena, and operating with different disciplinary assumptions that have led
them to draw conclusions that, if they don’t contradict each other, at least place emphases
on different outcomes. Psychologists’ efforts to control independent variables have led
them to focus on experiments that held curriculum constant and varied group
composition: homogenously formed groups in one school, heterogeneously formed
groups in another. Sociologists, by contrast, have employed methods more akin to
naturalistic observation, finding tracked schools and observing all of the consequences
that ensue, including markedly differentiated curricula between tracks. These different
perspectives account, perhaps, for the relatively benign view of tracking taken by
educational psychologists.
CONCLUSION
One’s position on the ability grouping question will probably turn on the value
Student Grouping 5.16
18. one attaches to academic achievement of traditional types versus the broader goals of
education. Those who construe the purpose of schooling as primarily preparing students –
particularly the more academically able students – for higher education or the workforce,
and who feel they see clearly the demands of those future roles, are likely to accept
homogeneous grouping as an appropriate instructional strategy. On the other hand, those
who see education as sorting children and reproducing social and economic class
inequalities and protecting the privileges of already privileged social and ethnic groups
are likely to regard homogeneous grouping as a principal means of achieving this goal.
Loveless,51 in his much cited book The Tracking Wars, sketches a view of education that
virtually presupposes the superiority of ability grouping: Schools are “places for students
to learn content that is designated, authoritatively, by someone else”52 (p. 13). This
authoritative designation involves “deciding what students should know (content),
deciding what they are capable of learning (ability), and finally, reconciling the content
with students’ ability to learn it.” 53 The educator’s responsibility is that of “matching
students with curriculum” and having “a legitimate party [decide what] students should
learn.” 54 This authoritarian, content-centered view of schooling has as many detractors
and as it has supporters.
Welner summarized the situation with respect to tracking in language stripped of
vagueness and euphemisms:
Ultimately, tracking is philosophically premised on the belief that some children
are so academically different from other children that these two (or more) groups
should not be in the same classroom. Accordingly, the academically inferior
children are placed in separate classrooms where, in theory, they catch up
(remediate) but where, in practice, they usually fall further behind. Tracking, then,
is about the rationing of opportunities. From the perspective of the low-track
student, it’s about deciding that this student should not be exposed to curriculum
and instruction that would prepare him or her for subsequent serious learning.
Student Grouping 5.17
19. From the perspective of the high-track student, it’s about enhancing the schooling
environment for some students by shielding (segregating) them from other
students.55
The teacher who worries about the potential injustice to poor and minority
students of tracking them into homogeneous groups will find little support for dealing
with the special challenges that heterogeneous grouping presents. Commercially available
curriculum materials are unlikely to aim at the same goals while differentiating the
approach for students of differing levels of ability. Cross-ability tutoring, which has the
potential to significantly raise the achievement of the tutors as well as those students
being tutored,56 is seldom provided for in today’s schools and almost never included
among the techniques imparted during pre-service teacher training. Often, the most vocal
and active parents in a school will request ability grouping, when their children stand a
good chance of being assigned to the fast track. It is little wonder that teachers prefer
homogeneous groups for instruction, unless they are confined to teaching the lowest
tracks. However, the challenge that must be faced whenever students are separated into
homogeneous achievement groups is to avoid the “dumbing down” of the curriculum, to
make the content and activities of the class as engaging and interesting as the curriculum
of the highest tracks, whether they are called “gifted,” “accelerated,” or “advanced.” One
of the few efforts to reverse the ill-effects of tracking at-risk students into low-achieving
homogeneous groups is Henry Levin’s57 accelerated schools movement, in which
curriculum and teaching methods thought to be appropriate only for high track students
are adapted for the education of all students. Tomlinson has recently offered advice on
how instruction can be differentiated in mixed-ability classrooms without suffering the
many ills that can result from segregating students into homogeneous ability groups.58
Student Grouping 5.18
20. Administrators wishing to “detrack” traditionally tracked schools will face a
considerable challenge. Welner and Oakes have offered plans for navigating the choppy
political waters that must be crossed when schools that have evolved to primarily serve
the interests of the brightest students are transformed into schools that serve all students’
needs.59
Ability grouping, achievement grouping, within-class, between-class, Joplin plan,
gifted programs, tracking, advanced placement – all of these devices may spring from the
same basic motivation. Since the empirical research on academic progress shows nothing
much more than small benefits to bright students of any of these forms of grouping per
se, and large benefits from enriching and accelerating the curriculum for select students,
the prevalence of these forms themselves probably represents another expression of the
wish of middle-class and upper-middle-class parents to secure some advantage or
privilege for their children within the public school system. Is this bad? In a schooling
system already markedly segregated on the basis of housing patterns and in which poor
and academically deprived children already suffer not just from sub-standard schooling
but from the indignity of racial and socio-economic segregation (as noted by Kozol60 and
by Orfield and Eaton61), the homogeneous grouping of students for instruction is one
more advantage conferred on those who already enjoy many. Jonathan Kozol has called
the tracking of poor and minority students into “special-needs” classes while white
middle-class students are accelerated in classes for the gifted “one of the great, great
scandals of American education.”62
RECOMMENDATIONS
• Mixed or heterogeneous ability or achievement groups offer several
Student Grouping 5.19
21. advantages:
1) less able pupils are at reduced risk of being stigmatized and exposed to a
“dumbed-down” curriculum;
2) teachers’ expectations for all pupils are maintained at higher levels;
3) opportunities for more able students to assist less able peers in learning
can be realized.
• Teachers asked to teach in a “de-tracked” system will require training,
materials and support that are largely lacking in today’s schools.
• Administrators seeking to “detrack” existing programs will require help in
navigating the difficult political course that lies ahead of them.
Student Grouping 5.20
22. REFERENCES
1 H. J. Otto, “Elementary education–III. Organization and administration,” in Encyclopedia of
Educational Research, ed. W. S. Monroe (New York: MacMillan, 1950).
2 J. B. Conant, The American High School (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1959).
3 J. E. Rosenbaum, Making inequality: The hidden curricula of high school tracking (New York: John
Wiley & Sons, 1976).
4 S. Bowles and H. Gintis, Schooling in Capitalist America (New York: Basic Books, 1976).
5 J. Oakes, Keeping track: How schools structure inequality (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press,
1985).
6 T. Loveless, The Tracking and Ability Grouping Debate,
<http://www.edexcellence.net/library/track.html#anchor979998>.
7 J. H. Braddock, “The perpetuation of segregation across levels of education: A behavior assessment of
the contact-hypothesis,” Sociology of Education 53, no. 3 (1980): 178-186.
8 L. Darling-Hammond, “Inequality and access to knowledge,” in Handbook of research on
multicultural education, eds. J. A. Banks and C. A. M. Banks (New York: Macmillan, 1995).
9 D. Esposito, “Homogeneous and heterogeneous ability grouping: Principal findings and implications
for evaluating and designing more effective educational environments,” Review of Educational
Research 43, no. 2 (1973): 163-179.
10 Hobson v. Hansen, 269 F. Supp. 401, 1967.
11 R. Dreeben and R. Barr, “The formation and instruction of ability groups,” American Journal of
Education 97, no. 1 (1988): 34-65.
12 T. B. Hoffer, “Middle school ability grouping,” Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis 14, no. 3
(1992): 205-227.
13 J. L. Epstein and D. J. MacIver, Education in the Middle Grades: Overview of National Practices and
Trends (Baltimore, MD: Center for Research on Elementary and Middle Schools, 1990).
14 M. Scherer, “On Savage Inequalities: A conversation with Jonathan Kozol,” Educational Leadership
50, no. 4 (1992-1993): 4-9.
15 S. Lucas, Tracking Inequality: Stratification and Mobility in American Schools (New York: Teachers
College Press, 1999).
16 K. G. Welner, Legal rights, local wrongs: When community control collides with educational equity
(New York: SUNY Press, 2001), 199.
17 Ibid., 202-203.
18 National Education Association, Ability Grouping. Research summary 1968-53 (Washington, D.C.:
National Education Association, 1968).
19 Welner.
20 E. L. Useem, “Middle schools and math groups: Parents involvement in children’s placement,”
Sociology of Education 65, no. 4 (1992): 263-279.
21 J. Oakes, A. S. Wells and associates, Beyond the Technicalities of School Reform: Policy Lessons from
Detracking Schools (Los Angeles: UCLA Graduate School of Education, 1996).
22 “The grouping of pupils,” Thirty-fifth Yearbook, Part I, National Society for the Study of Education,
ed. G. M. Whipple (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1936).
Student Grouping 5.21
23. 23 C. L. Kulik and J. A. Kulik, “Effects of ability grouping on secondary school students: A meta-analysis
of evaluation findings,” American Educational Research Journal 19, no. 4 (1982): 415-428.
C. L. Kulik and J. A. Kulik, “Effects of ability grouping on elementary school pupils: A meta-
analysis,” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association,
Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 1984, ERIC, ED 255329.
J. A. Kulik and C. L. Kulik, “Effects of accelerated instruction on students,” Review of Educational
Research 54, no. 3 (1984): 409-425.
J. A. Kulik and C. L. Kulik, “Effects of ability grouping on student achievement,” Equity and
Excellence 23, no. 1-2 (1989): 22-30.
24 R. R. Slavin, “Ability grouping and student achievement in elementary schools: A best-evidence
synthesis,” Review of Educational Research 57, no. 3 (1987): 293-336.
R. E. Slavin, “Synthesis of research on grouping in elementary and secondary schools,” Educational
Leadership 46, no. 1 (1988): 67-77.
R. E. Slavin, “Achievement effects of ability grouping in secondary schools: A best-evidence
synthesis,” Review of Educational Research 60, no. 3 (1990): 471-499.
25 G. V Glass, B. McGaw and M. L. Smith, Meta-analysis in social research (Beverly Hills, CA: SAGE
Publications, 1981).
26 C. L. Kulik and J. A. Kulik, “Effects of ability grouping on secondary school students”
27 J. Oakes.
28 T. Good and S. Marshall, “Do students learn more in heterogeneous or homogeneous groups?” in The
Social Context of Instruction: Group Organization and Group Processes, eds. P. Peterson, L. C.
Wilkinson and M. Halliman (New York: Academic Press, 1984), 15-38.
29 R. R. Slavin, “Ability grouping and student achievement in elementary schools: A best-evidence
synthesis,” Review of Educational Research 57, no. 3 (1987): 293-336.
R. E. Slavin, “Achievement effects of ability grouping in secondary schools: A best-evidence
synthesis,” Review of Educational Research 60, no. 3 (1990): 471-499.
R. E. Slavin, “Ability grouping in the middle grades: Achievement effects and alternatives,”
Elementary School Journal 93, no. 5 (1993): 535-552.
30 R. E. Slavin, Achievement Effects, 494.
31 R. R. Slavin.
32 R. E. Slavin, Achievement Effects, 487.
33 D. H. Schunk, “Peer models and children’s behavioral change,” Review of Educational Research 57,
no. 2 (1987): 149-174.
34 J. P. Feldhusen, “Synthesis of research on gifted youth,” Educational Leadership 46, no. 6 (1989): 6-
11.
35 S. D. Allan, “Grouping and the gifted ability-grouping research reviews: What do they say about
grouping and the gifted?” Educational Leadership 48 (March 1991).
36 D. H. Schunk, Peer Models, 152.
37 D. H. Schunk, Peer Models, 161.
38 Ibid.
39 D. H. Schunk, Peer Models, 169
Student Grouping 5.22
24. 40 A. Gamoran, “The stratification of high school learning opportunities,” Sociology of Education 60
(1987): 135-155.
41 Ibid.
42 J. Oakes.
43 C. H. Persell, Education and inequality: A theoretical and empirical synthesis (New York: Free Press,
1977).
44 J. E. Rosenbaum, “Social implications of educational grouping,” Review of Research in Education 8
(1980): 361-401.
45 J. Oakes, Multiplying inequalities: The effects of race, class, and tracking on opportunities to learn
math and science (Santa Monica: RAND, 1990).
J. Oakes, “Can tracking research inform practice? Technical, normative, and political considerations,”
Educational Researcher 21, no. 4 (1992): 12-22.
J. Oakes, Gamoran, A. and Page, R., “Curriculum differentiation: Opportunities, outcomes, and
meanings,” in Handbook of research on curriculum, ed. P. Jackson (New York: Macmillan, 1992),
570-608.
46 J. Oakes, Keeping Track, 40.
47 T. Loveless, The Tracking Wars: State Reform Meets School Policy (Washington DC: Brookings
Institution Press, 1999), 21.
48 K. G. Welner, 57-61.
49 K. Welner and R. A. Mickelson, “School reform, politics, and tracking: Should we pursue virtue?”
Educational Researcher 29, no. 4 (2000): 22-26.
50 M. Scherer.
51 T. Loveless.
52
Ibid.,13.
53
Ibid.
54
Ibid.
55 K. G. Welner, 11-12.
56 H. M. Levin, G. V Glass and G. R. Meister, “A Cost-effectiveness Analysis of Computer-assisted
Instruction,” Evaluation Review 11, no. 1 (1987), 50-72.
57 H. M. Levin, “Accelerated schools after eight years,” in Innovations in Learning: New Environments
for Education, eds. L. Schauble and R. Glaser (New York: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1996),
329-351.
58 C. A. Tomlinson, How to Differentiate Instruction in Mixed-Ability Classrooms, (Alexandria, VA:
Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 1995).
59 K. G. Welner and J. Oakes, Navigating the Politics of Detracking: Leadership Startegies (Arlington
Heights, IL: Skylight Training and Publishing Inc., 2000).
60 J. Kozol.
61 G. Orfield and S. E. Eaton, Dismantling Desegregation. The Quiet Reversal of Brown v. Board of
Education (New York: The New Press, 1996).
62 M. Scherer, 9.
Student Grouping 5.23