Ability Grouping - Jennifer Ullery

Ability grouping is the term used when students are grouped homogeneously based on their learning abilities.  This can take different forms:  within-class grouping, cross-grade grouping, special classes/pullout groups.  I believe that when classes are formed with students that have similar abilities, it is beneficial for both the students and the teacher.  The teacher would be able to focus on certain skills that that particular group of students needs to focus on, whether it is a gifted and talented grouping or a lower level grouping.  In a classroom that has all different levels, it is hard to reach both the student that is reading a third grade level in middle school and the student who is reading on a collegiate level.  However, if there were a class for just gifted and talented students, the teacher would be able to allow them to follow certain paths of interest because they can pick up the basics more quickly.  Also, with a class that has lower level students, the teacher can focus on vocabulary and building that information up more slowly so the students are not so overwhelmed.

Some advantages to ability grouping is that gifted students would be in a classroom with other students that have similar interests.  The teacher can adapt activities and lessons to be more in-depth.  With heterogeneous grouping, the gifted student may feel bored because they understood the concepts more quickly than the rest of their classmates.  Rogers (1991) noticed that ability grouping "produces substantial gains in academic achievement, creativity, and other thinking skills."  When  gifted students are grouped in a class together, there is a higher achievement level.  Another advantage is when the gifted students are not in the classroom, it gives the other students an opportunity "to shine" (Fiedler, Lange, & Winebrenner, 1993).

Disadvantages to ability grouping are more on the social and self-esteem level.  Gifted students tend to have difficulties with their social skills, and if they are in a classroom with a mix of levels, they can work more on those social skills they will need in life.  In a homogeneous classroom, gifted students are more likely not to gain those social skills.  When students are grouped based on ability, the lower level students may think of themselves as stupid or dumb.  However, this could also happen in a mixed class because lower level students will see high level students grasping concepts more quickly and getting better grades.