Education Commons^™

The Relative Age Effect: Ensuring Student Success Regardless Of Birth Month, Geoffrey E. Bruno

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This mixed methods study examines the degree to which relative age impacts school performance and achievement for students in Scarborough Public Schools. The relative age effect refers to the impact differences in age among students in the same grade can have on performance in school. Students who turn five in the days just prior to the eligibility date for starting Kindergarten, October 15 in Maine, are nearly one year younger than those who are born in the days immediately after October 15. In addition, some parents choose to delay their child’s enrollment in Kindergarten for one year, a decision called …

Students' Preferences For Setting And/Or Mixed-Ability Grouping In Secondary School Physical Education In England, Shaun D. Wilkinson, Dawn Penney

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

There is an extensive international literature on different forms of ability grouping in schools, much of which describes their impact on students' academic achievement, motivation, self-concept and/or attitudes towards learning. Comparatively little research has focused on students' perspectives of these practices, while the research that has been conducted has primarily focused on mathematics, English and science. There is a conspicuous and arguably significant absence of research that explores students' perspectives on different forms of ability grouping in other areas of the school curriculum, including physical education (PE). In contrast to the relative privacy of classroom-based subjects, students' bodies, physical competencies …

The Equity Of Class Ability Grouping Practices In Australian Education: Findings From A Survey In Western Australia And Queensland, Olivia Johnston, Rebecca Spooner-Lane, Wei Zhang, Suzanne Macqueen, Nerida Spina

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Grouping students into separate classes according to their ‘ability’ is an inequitable practice that does not, overall, improve academic outcomes. Research has continued to show that class ability grouping widens the educational gap between students from disadvantaged and privileged backgrounds. PISA data analysis suggests that class ability grouping continues to be used in Australian schools, at least in Year 10. However, no research has characterized the existing class ability grouping practices being used in secondary schools from Years 7 to 9. The findings reported in this paper add quantitative evidence to the literature, showing that students are experiencing different class …

The Influence Of A Supplemental Mathematics Course To 9th Grade Algebra 1 Students In A Medium Suburban K-12 School District In New Jersey, Jacob Cavins

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Math performance became an increasing concern in the United States after the launch of Sputnik in 1957. This concern began with attempts to prescribe mathematical standards in the United States to improve student mathematics preparation. When the COVID pandemic began in 2020, policies on quarantining and remote learning were implemented, resulting in increased education gaps. The most contemporary NAEP report shows the first decline in math scores in the United States since the inception of the NAEP. Districts are looking for solutions. Districts are exploring intervention options, including Multi-Tiered Support Systems and Response to Intervention initiatives. They hope to reduce …

Ability Tracking And Its Effects On Students, Isabel Kielmeyer

M.Ed. Literature Reviews

Ability tracking is an educational practice used throughout the world that separates students into different curriculum tracks based on their perceived academic ability. This heavily debated practice poses significant questions to its continued use due to harmful psychological and social effects on students without any guaranteed academic benefits. This paper considers the literature on all these issues and finds that ability tracking may benefit some students academically, but that this often comes at a detriment to their own and others’ psychological and social development. Further, this paper discusses strategies moving forward to ensure all students have access to a high-quality …

A Systematic Literature Review Of Between-Class Ability Grouping In Australia: Enduring Tensions, New Directions, Olivia Johnston, Becky Taylor

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Ability grouping of students into separate classes within a school can be called ‘between-class ability grouping’. This practice has persisted in Australia despite evidence that it is socially inequitable and does not improve academic outcomes. A systematic review of peer-reviewed literature about between-class ability grouping in Australia from 2012-2022 reveals only N=28 papers that meet the inclusion criteria. These papers are critiqued and synthesised into four main findings that characterise Australian research about between-class ability grouping from 2012-2022. The findings reveal a lack of substantive inquiry with most studies having limited scope and drawing on outdated or overly generalised data. …

A National Survey Of Ability Grouping Practices In Secondary School Physical Education In England, Shaun D. Wilkinson, Dawn Penney

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

This research sought to generate large-scale yet sophisticated data relating to ability grouping practices in physical education (PE) in secondary schools in England, with the intent of extending knowledge of the various ability grouping practices being adopted within and across schools. The prevalence of particular ability grouping practices, processes associated with their application, and factors influencing their use and non-use were explored. Data were collected via a web-based survey of all (3197 at the time of study) mainstream state-funded secondary schools in England. A total of 903 responses were received, giving a response rate of 28.2%. The findings reveal that …

The Paideia Program Is Worth Another Look, Jessica Richardi

Journal of Educational Research and Practice

Educational opportunity is unequally distributed in the United States, most notably by race and economic status. Commonly practiced in K–12 schools across the country, tracking and ability grouping serve to exacerbate those existing inequities. Recent renewed activism for racial and economic justice, coupled with concerns over learning loss due to COVID-19 school closures, makes this an ideal time for educators to reconsider a formerly well-known and ambitious whole-school reform system called the Paideia Program. The system itself is described and a comprehensive review of research and literature follows. This review demonstrates Paideia’s potential to improve educational outcomes and thus help …

An Exploration Of Math Trauma Through Ability Grouping And Teacher Language In Elementary Schools, Sarah E. Owen

Honors Projects

This literature review approaches the question of ability grouping and other forms of teacher communication in elementary school math curriculum through the lens of equity and student outcomes. Types of grouping practices in elementary schools are discussed, along with the positives and negatives of each general form of grouping, with special consideration paid to the topic of math trauma and the ways that ability grouping contributes to it. This review concludes that teachers have a profound effect on students and that students have a profound effect on one another, leading to a discussion on the moral and ethical responsibility that …

Equity And Ability Grouping: A Study Of Whole-School Practices And Reflections On Vocal Music Education, Daniel Glossenger, Andrew Cowell

Dissertations

This co-authored dissertation is a macro-level case study of a public high school tracking system and a micro-level autoethnography from a music educator about vocal music placement practices. The case study sought to comprehensively describe and analyze the characteristics of a tracking system in all core subjects at a single school, including the extent of differentiation of levels, placement practices, student mobility, teacher tracking, and inclusiveness by race, class, and gender. It also used network analysis software to map more than 75,000 connections among students created by their course-taking; it used this to quantitatively identify student communities, which then were …

Secondary Mathematics Teacher Beliefs: Heterogeneous Or Homogenous Tracking And Ability Grouping, Andrew Hughes

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

This study focused on secondary school mathematics teachers’ beliefs about tracking (ability grouping across classes) and ability grouping within classes and their perceived effects on student achievement, student affects and behaviors, and instruction. Case study methodology was employed, and semi-structured interviews conducted with a purposive sample of six teachers from two schools in a city within the southeastern United States. Three teachers worked in a school that predominantly tracks their students while the other three teachers worked in a school that mixes their students by ability across classes. Data from this study are consistent with social inequities reported in tracking …

Guided Reading: Effects Of Ability Grouping On Reading Levels And Self-Efficacy, Tearrany Nelson

Master's Theses & Capstone Projects

This action research study investigated the use of ability grouping during guided reading and if ability grouping had an effect on a student's self-efficacy. The study looks at three first grade classrooms during the 2019-2020 school year. Two of the classrooms used cross-classroom ability grouping focusing on student needs and book levels. The third classroom stayed self-contained and had groups of different levels and needs. Data was collected from Oral Running Records (ORR), the FAST assessments for sight words, word segmenting and sentence reading, and a self-efficacy questionnaire. The ORR's provided the students beginning book levels at the beginning of …

Setting Policy And Student Agency In Physical Education: Students As Policy Actors, Shaun D. Wilkinson, Dawn Penney

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

© 2020, © 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. In turning a spotlight on students in physical education, this paper seeks to extend applications of policy enactment theory, and particularly, the policy actor framework. Following the lead of Stephen Ball and colleagues, the research that this paper draws on examined the various dimensions of context shaping policy enactment in different schools. The focus of the research was policy associated with ability grouping, and setting particularly, in physical education. The research involved case study work in three mixed-gender secondary schools in England, with 15 physical education teachers …

The Enactment Of Setting Policy In Secondary School Physical Education, Shaun D. Wilkinson, Dawn Penney, Linda Allin, Paul Potrac

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

© 2020, © 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. The micro-level enactment of educational policy has received little attention in the physical education [PE] literature, particularly as it relates to setting policy. This study employs enactment theory to provide original insights into the ways in which setting policy was enacted by PE teachers in three mixed-gender secondary schools in England. The work of Stephen Ball and colleagues is used to examine the distinct and combined influence of the situated, material, professional and external dimensions of context on setting policy and practices in PE in these three …

The Impact Of Within-Class Grouping Vs. Within-Grade Grouping, Johannah Bloemendaal

Master's Theses & Capstone Projects

The purpose of this action research project was to compare two types of ability grouping and if one type had more of an impact than the other in a primary classroom. In this study, one type of ability grouping, known as within class ability grouping was implemented in one second grade classroom in 2017-2018. Another type of ability grouping was implemented the next year where all three of second grade classrooms were grouped according to ability, which is considered to be within grade ability grouping. Students were assessed with the AddVantage+MR (AVMR) assessment to determine placement. Then they were placed …

Ability Grouping And Student Achievement In Four Rural Elementary Schools In The Southern United States, Rhonda Denise Kelley

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

School personnel are concerned that reading gaps of grade 3 and grade 4 students have persisted in 4 rural elementary schools in the southern United States despite the use of ability grouping to improve student reading proficiency scores. Between the 2014-2016 school years, less than 50% of students in grades 3 and grade 4 scored at the proficient level in reading at the 4 target rural schools. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine the teachers' and administrators' perceptions regarding the influence of grouping on the reading performance of students in grades 3 and 4. Using Vygotsky's …

Deciding On Classroom Composition: Factors Related To Principals' Grouping Practices, Brigid M. Nesmith

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research study was to examine the factors that may influence elementary and middle school principals’ choice of heterogeneous, homogeneous, or within-class ability grouping in Southeast Georgia. This study employed a quantitative, methodological research design along with descriptive analyses of four research questions using a convenience sample. Data from 64 elementary and middle school principals were received during the spring of 2018 and analyzed to determine the factors that influence their grouping practices.

This study focused on one overarching research question: What factors may be related to principals’ grouping practices in utilizing heterogeneous, homogeneous, or within-class ability …

The Effect Of Multiage Grouping On The Self-Esteem Of Students, Aaron Farrant

Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership Dissertations

Educators know children need to learn at a level that is appropriately challenging for them. If the material is too difficult, the children will often feel defeated and stop trying. If the material is too easy, the children will often lose interest and not achieve their potential. Educators also know children learn at different speeds and have different abilities, even children who are the same age. Despite knowing this, the traditional educational model is designed to group children based solely on age and the expectation is for the teacher to differentiate to meet the needs of each individual child in …

Pedagogical Practices In Homogeneous And Heterogeneous Ability Grouped Classrooms, Theresa Marie Kinsey

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative action research study was to describe one sixth grade English Language Arts (ELA) teacher’s pedagogical practices in her heterogeneous grouped classroom and her homogeneous grouped classroom. The focus of this study was on instructional practices in two classes, one homogeneously grouped based on high English Language Arts ability; the other heterogeneously grouped. Through the data generated, the participant-researcher reflected upon the English Language Arts instruction in both classes and described the teacher’s instructional practices in this middle school. Semi-structured interviews, a questionnaire, field observations, videotapes and lesson plans provided the qualitative research data for this …

The Influence Of Grade Level Flexible Grouping On Reading Achievement, Jeanna Czerniecki Velechko

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

This study examined the influence of grouping formation on the scores on the New Jersey Assessment of Skills and Knowledge (NJASK 3) in Grade 3 English Language Arts. Grouping within the general education classroom was compared to grouping between the same grade level. The analysis included a multiple regression model for student variables gender, race/ethnicity, prior ability and grouping status. All data explored in this study pertained to 155 third graders in one New Jersey suburban district during the 2012-2013 academic school year. The results of the study revealed prior ability in reading influenced the scores on the NJASK 3 …

Ability-Grouped College Math Students And Their Motivation To Succeed, Luralyn Helming, Amy Schweinle

School of Education Research Center

The authors studied how math anxiety, motivation, and ability group interact to affect performance in college math courses. They introduced the study of college students as ability grouped students. College students in the highest ability group were most likely to receive a satisfactory grade (70% and above) regardless of their level of motivation. For students in the average and low groups, the likelihood of receiving a satisfactory grade was a function of their motivation. As expected, students in the higher groups had more positive motivational patterns from the perspectives of expectancy-value theory and goal theory. Thus, college students experience ability …

A New Imperative For Detracking Schools. A Book Review Of On The Same Track:How Schools Can Join The Twenty-First-Century Struggle Against Resegregation, Pamela D. Fisher

Democracy and Education

In her 2014 book, On the Same Track: How Schools Can Join the Twenty-First-Century Struggle Against Resegregation, Burris builds upon the compelling case made for detracking put forth by Oakes and others in the 1970s and ’80s. Today, decades after the pioneers in detracking schools, Burris revisits the tracking practices still prevalent in America’s public schools through the lenses of those who are in the racial or ethnic minority and who are poor and at a time when school accountability often drives school practice and school choice to additional layers of sorting.

Success After Failure: Academic Effects And Psychological Implications Of Early Universal Algebra Policies, Keith Howard, Martin Romero, Allison Scott, Derrick Saddler

Education Faculty Articles and Research

In this article, the authors use the High School Longitudinal Study 2009 (HSLS:09) national database to analyze the relationships between algebra failure, subsequent performance, motivation, and college readiness. Students who failed eighth-grade Algebra I did not differ significantly in mathematics proficiency from those who passed lower-level courses, but initially demonstrated significantly lower mathematics interest, mathematics utility, and mathematics identity. Both groups were less likely than the general population to meet college requirements in the eleventh grade, although students who passed a lower-level mathematics course fared better than those who failed Algebra I. Implications for policies addressing mathematics course enrollments are …

Ability Grouping In Elementary Education, Anna Kathryn Mccarter

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Ability grouping in education is a common practice used to differentiate instruction in order to meet the academic needs of students. The primary purpose for grouping students by ability is to increase their academic growth and achievement by providing instruction at the students’ current instructional level. However, there is much conflicting research regarding the impact of grouping students by ability and its link to student achievement. The purpose of this study was to determine if there is a statistically significant difference between school-wide student achievement in grades 3, 4, and 5 based on the type of grouping: ability grouped or …

The Role Of Teachers In Ability-Tracked Mathematics Classrooms, Danyelle M. Doldoorian

Senior Theses and Projects

Tracking, or ability grouping, is a salient feature of the American education system. As opposed to most studies on tracking which investigate student achievement and student experiences, this study investigates the role of teachers in a tracked curriculum. The goals of this study are to discover how teachers feel about tracking and to understand how teachers operate their classrooms with respect to the different ability groups. I conducted observations of tracked middle and high school mathematics classrooms and directed interviews with the teachers of these tracked classes. I found that teachers alter their language, classroom pace, quality of review, and …

The Effect Of Ability Grouping For Talmud On The Academic Self-Concept Of Jewish Orthodox Middle School Students, Yitzchak Tzvi Goldberg

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Researchers have examined the relationship between ability grouping and academic self-concept in math, science, and English, and have found varying results. However, previous studies have not examined the relationship between ability grouping and academic self-concept for the subject of Talmud. Middle school presents a unique opportunity to examine this relationship because middle school is when both ability grouping for Talmud and the study of Talmud begin. The purpose of this correlational study was to assess the relationship between ability grouping and the academic self-concept for Talmud in middle school students. The predictive relationship among individual academic achievement, school average achievement, …

Implications For Ability Grouping In Mathematics For Fifth Grade Students, Anne M. Stinnett

Masters Theses

This study examines the effects of ability grouping on fifth grade students at 47 elementary schools in a large urban school district. Using disaggregated standardized test data that statistically measures achievement growth, this study analyzes gains among students assigned to prior achievement quintiles as compared to three grouping strategies: homogeneous, heterogeneous with special classes for advanced and special education, and heterogeneous ability groups.

The findings suggest that the grouping strategies used in these schools are effective for the students at these schools. Most significant is that, on average, low achieving schools are grouping students in ways that are exhibiting positive …

A Quantitative Study Of Learning In The School Cafeteria Using Educational Placemats, Keshia Lasha Gaines

Dissertations

This study investigated if there was a difference in student achievement after participants were exposed to educational placemats in a school cafeteria for four days each (four different placemats). Also, the student’s gender and ability grouping was considered in relation to achievement. This study included 49 ability grouped third grade students in an elementary school in south Mississippi. Students were pre-tested with researcher-made math instruments before the educational placemats were introduced and post-tested afterwards. For research purposes, some placemats served as a control and did not relate to the pre-test and post-test content. Statistical measurements of the differences were derived …

Effect On Student Achievement Of Relaxing Admission Criteria Into Advanced Placement Courses At An Affluent Suburban High School, William S. Miron

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

.

Ability Grouping And Academic Inequality: Evidence From Trinidad And Tobago, Clement (Kirabo) Jackson

C. Kirabo Jackson

In Trinidad and Tobago students are assigned to secondary schools after fifth grade based on achievement tests, generating large differences in school and peer quality. Using instrumental variables to address self-selection bias, I find that being assigned to a school with high-achieving peers has large positive effects on examination performance, particularly for girls. This suggests that ability grouping (or school tracking) reinforces achievement differences by assigning the weakest students to schools that provide the least value-added. While students benefit from attending schools with brighter peers on average, the marginal effect is non-linear such that there are small benefits to attending …