Ability Grouping in Elementary Schools

Grouping of students by ability is one of the oldest and most controversial issues in elementary and secondary schools. Hundreds of research studies have examined the effects of the two most common variations: between class and within class ability grouping. Between-class grouping refers to a school's practice of forming classrooms that contain students of similar ability. Within-class grouping refers to a teacher's practice of forming groups of students of similar ability within an individual class. Why should you use ability grouping? In theory, ability grouping increases student achievement by reducing the inequality in student’s ability levels, and this increases the chances that teachers can provide instruction that is not too easy or too hard for most students. The assumption is that ability grouping allows the teacher to increase the pace and raise the level of instruction for high achievers, and provide more individual attention, repetition, and review for low achievers. The high achievers benefit from having to compete with one another, and the low achievers benefit from not having to compete with their more able peers. However, one of the main arguments against ability grouping is that the practice creates groups of low achievers who are deprived of the example and stimulation provided by high achievers. Labeling students according to ability and assigning them to low-achievement groups may also communicate self-fulfilling low expectations. Further, groups with low performance often receive a lower quality of instruction than other groups. Slaughter saw this as the most compelling argument against ability grouping its creation of academic elites, a practice which goes against democratic ideals.

Slaughter concluded that schools and teachers should use the methods proven most effective, such