ABILITY GROUPING IN THE MIDDLE GRADES - ACHIEVEMENT EFFECTS AND ALTERNATIVES

This article reviews research on the effects of ability grouping on th e achievement of middle school students and discusses alternatives to traditional grouping practices. 6 randomized experiments, 7 matched ex periments, and 14 correlational studies compared ability grouping to h eterogeneous plans over periods of from 1 semester to 5 years. Overall achievement effects were found to be essentially 0 in middle and juni or high school grades (6-9). Results were close to 0 for students of a ll levels of prior performance-high, average, and low. Alternatives to between-class ability grouping, including cooperative learning and wi thin-class grouping, are also discussed. Finally, fruitful areas of fu ture research are outlined.