Does ability grouping increase the academic achievement of gifted students? Does it hurt the self-esteem or achievement of the average or below average students? Should the curriculum vary by ability group? The controversy on whether or not ability grouping is the best or right way to divide classes has been debated for years. There are just as many proponents for ability grouping as there are opponents and there is also a wide variety of research done. In education, this controversy still has yet to be solved and more research is needed. To understand ability grouping, one has to know what it is, the pros and cons for it and why it is more about the quality of the education than the groups the students are placed in.
Ability grouping is the division of students by their achievement level either part of the day or all. Larry Daniel suggests their placement is based around the students’ IQ, teacher or past educators’ judgement and/or their achievement measurements (n.p.). There are many different ways ability grouping is done. One common type is within-class grouping. Within-class grouping is when the class is heterogeneous and small groups are formed based on ability. Within-class grouping is most widely used in the elementary levels, usually in reading or mathematics groups. Between-class grouping is when different classes or subjects are grouped by ability. Robert Slavin report there are many different types of between-class grouping including The Joplin Plan, regrouping, nongrading instruction, departmentalization, gifted programs and special education (72). The Joplin Plan and nongrading instruction are very similar practices. According to Slavin in his “Synthesis of Research on Grouping”, The Joplin plan is grouping s...
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Muir, Mike. "Research Brief Tracking & Ability Grouping." The Principals' Partnership. Union Pacific Foundation, 8 Jan. 2007. Web. 31 Mar. 2011. .
Scholz, Simon. "Ability Groups: Ineffective on Ineffectively Used?" Australian Primary Mathematics Classroom9.2 (2004): 29-31. ERIC. Web. 29 Mar. 2011. .
Slavin, Robert. "Synthesis of Research on Grouping in Elementary and Secondary Schools." Educational Leadership 46.1 (1988): 67-77. Print.
Strahan, David, Kim Hartman, and Sandy Sikes. "Heterogeneous Grouping." Research Bulletin. North Carolina Middle School Association. North Carolina Middle School Association, n.d. Web. 30 Mar. 2011. .
Board of Education outlawed educational segregation, the Illinois School District had created a completely different gifted program for Hispanic students, separate from the White students’ gifted program. Ford found that in 2009 and 2001, the RDCI (The Relative Difference in Composition Index) researched and concluded “at least one half million African American and Hispanic students combined are not identified as gifted” (Ford 145). While African American Students are rising to be the majority race in public education, the percentage of African Americans even being recognized as gifted or academically accelerated, is not proportionally increasing (Ford). Society hold precedents with people who have superior intelligence over those who do not, but how can superiority even be concluded when all people are not given the opportunity to have an enriching education? African Americans are not able to increase their percentage of gifted students because African American students are not given the chance to be even recognized as worthy or capable of such achievements. As society advances further academically and leaves African Americans with an unquail education, the percentage of African Americans attending college and entering professional careers
Pérusse, R. V. (2009). Group counseling in the schools. Psychology In The Schools, 46(3), 225-231.
The problem associated with how students are chosen to join a gifted and talented program stems from the way that we define giftedness. Because there are countless ways in which any individual can define talent, the government created a federal task force in 1972 to study gifted education in order to standardize the way in which schools choose students for and implement their gifted and talented programs. The task force’s results are known as the Marland Report and include much information as a result of their research, including a decision that a public school’s gifted and talented programs should aim to serve between 3 and 5 percent o...
A. Preventing "Groupthink" Psychology Today. 20 Apr. 2011. The. Psychology Today.
Racial Groups: Conceptual Perspectives and Practical Suggestions. VanTassel-Baska, J.L., Cross, T. L. & Olenchak, F. R. (Eds.). Social-Emotional Curriculum With Gifted and Talented Students (pp. 133-151). Prufrock Press Inc. Waco, Texas.
Group formation or formation of cliques is typically seen as the stereotypical jocks, cheerleaders, geeks, or nerds. But what most do not necessarily take into consideration is that members of each group have an existing commonality between them even if most of the members do not know what that common trait is. Being a part of a group can have an impact on an individual. Through group discussion, individuals only strengthen their beliefs due to the fact that they know that they are not alone in those beliefs since they have friends
The ASCA National Model. (n.d.). Newport News Public Schools. Retrieved June 5, 2014, from http://sbo.nn.k12.va.us/guidance/document
TUCKMAN, B. 1965. Developmental Sequences in Small Groups. Psychological Bulletin 63, p 384 – 99. cited in DOEL, M. and SAWDON, C. (2001). The Essential Group Worker: Teaching and Learning Creative Group Work. London: J Kingsley.
Robbins, S. Judge T. 2012, Groups in the organizations, Essentials of Organizational Behavior, 12(12): 188.
Working in groups can be a very positive or very negative experience. How a group functions together determines how positive or negative that experience becomes. All go through four stages of development, forming, norming, storming, and performing.. Unfortunately for our group, many of the members experienced some of these stages together and other missed out on that opportunity of original growth. Kirst-Ashman and Hull describe these stages as a pattern of development. This allows the group members to see how they are working together but also allows observers to see what stage the group is stuck on. I had hoped for my group to develop past the first stage of development quickly, however as a whole we couldn’t seem to get over this limbo of being a forming or norming group. Our group was not the best functioning, but working together taught me the important pieces of being a group member as well as working within a group.
Author unkown (2003, March 9). In gifted classrooms is diversity lacking?. Salisbury Daily Times. Retrieved March 10, 2003, from http://www.dailytimesonline.com/new/stories/20030309/localnews/1142640.html
One model for understanding group development is the five-stage group development model which states that groups go through five stages of forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning (Gibson, el at., 2009). In addition, the model suggests that groups can be in several stages at one time and do not have to move through the stages linearly (Gibson, el at., 2009). While this model has been widely used by individuals, in the study of group dynamics, there is no imperial evidence that this model accurately describes group development (Tuckman & Jensen, 2010). In addition, there is some concern that the model is to static and unrealistic in its explanation of group formation (Gibson, el at., 2009). Another model for group development is the punctuated equilibrium model that suggests that there are only three phases (Gibson, el a...
Research on the social and cognitive effects of grouping students in mixed-abilities versus same-abilities classrooms is gaining increasing interest among practitioners and researchers. In hopes of attaining higher scores, many schools have adopted homogeneous ability grouping. Unlike them, our school has adopted the policy of mixed ability classes where students of different academic abilities study together in the same class. Indeed, there is a lot of research in favor of heterogeneous ability grouping, but is this beneficial to us?
My goal as a teacher is to improve my student’s education and help them grow knowledgably. I like to see students at different levels develop with each other and learn. I want to challenge the students and watch them grow to their highest level of education. Therefore, having the students in groups is the best educational strategy I like to use a lot. I want my students to have freedom with whatever creativity they want, and to allow them to express themselves at any time. With this freedom students will be able to experiment with likes and dislikes and be able to figure their weaknesses and strengths. Education is for everyone and it’s a right by low for all; teachers, on the other hand, should do their jobs very honestly and effectively.