Ability Grouping - Robin Wright

Ability grouping has been argued over for many years. Is it beneficial or not? Does it cause a decrease in self esteem? Any type of grouping should be conducted in a way that would benefit all students involved. Furthermore, it should also motivate them to want to achieve more.

I believe that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages when it comes to ability grouping gifted students.  However, I don't think they should be completely separated all the time.  I also feel that the way our district pulls our gifted and talented students one day a week is the best solution.  One advantage is that they are with other interested, high ability learners that they can relate to.  Often times, gifted students view themselves as strange or different, and being grouped with other high level learners can actually increase their self esteem.  Research has shown that gifted students learn faster alone and being grouped in a Horizon classroom allows them to do individual projects due to smaller class sizes.  This advantage also decreases the lack of academic interest and motivation that some gifted students experience, because the gifted grouping allows for accelerated work more suited to their level of learning.

One disadvantage of ability grouping gifted students all the time would be that they are separated from students with varied ability levels.  In reality, these students are the ones they will be working with in the real world, and they need to know how to interact with them.  They need to develop the patience and cooperative learning skills to work with someone on a lower ability level.  One fact that can be considered both a disadvantage and an advantage, is that gifted students are often times the "teachers" in groups in the regular classroom.  However, the gifted child can learn a lot from teaching someone else a new concept or skill.

Grouping gifted students some of the time can be beneficial academically.  Socially however, it can cause a disconnection with the majority of the population.  Looking towards the future and the interactions they will experience, this may prove to be a challenge for them.