The Effects of Homogeneous and Heterogeneous Grouping Arrangements on Reading Achievement

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The Effects of Homogeneous and Heterogeneous
Grouping Arrangements on Reading Achievement

• Oksana Vulchyn
• Instructor
• Dr. Sharon A. OConnor-Petruso
• Ed. 702.22
• Fall 2008

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Table of Contents

1. Introduction
   
   
   
   
   
2. Statement of the Problem
   
   
3. Review of Related Literature
   
   
4. Statement of the Hypothesis
5. References

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Introduction

• Schools of today are ethnically, culturally,
  intellectually, and socio-economically diverse.
  According to Hodgkinson (2002), in ten-fifteen
  years, at least half of the population of the
  public school students in the United States will
  be non-white. In many school districts, a large
  percentage of the population will come from many
  different locations from around the world and
  speak many different languages. According to the
  National Center of Education Statistics, in 2000,
  seventeen percent of all public school students
  were Hispanic, and by 2025, nearly one in four
  school-age children will speak Spanish as their
  primary language (National Center for Education
  Statistics, 2003).
• Educating children of very different abilities is
  one of the most prominent advancements in
  teachers skill over the last decade. Teachers
  arrange the environments in the classrooms and
  schools so that the children learn a great deal
  for themselves, either individually or in small
  groups. The problem of grouping the students in
  the classroom has always aroused interest. Early
  research argues for homogeneous grouping to meet
  the needs of individual students, on the other
  hand, more current research questions ability
  grouping practices.
• How can diverse needs be met? Will a student
  learn better if grouped with others of similar
  ability? Or will he or she learn better if
  grouped with students of varied abilities?
  Educators, theorists, philosophers, researches,
  and evaluators have put a great deal of effort
  into studies trying to answer these questions.

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Statement of the Problem

• The disparity of the backgrounds and experiences,
  changing demographics, social promotion, and
  inclusion attest the heterogeneous nature of
  todays schools and classrooms. For this reason,
  the reality of any school situation dictates some
  kind of grouping. Schools group students in
  different ways. One way is to group students in
  homogeneous, commonly based on a division by
  standardized tests of mental ability often
  combined with measures of achievement,
  classrooms. Another way is to divide students by
  chronological age within a heterogeneous
  classroom. There are numerous studies examining
  the benefits and drawbacks of homogeneous and
  heterogeneous grouping arrangements and their
  effects on students achievement. However, some
  key questions remain unaddressed, preventing us
  from drawing the conclusions about the effects of
  these educational practices.
• The purpose of this study is to investigate the
  effects of homogeneous and heterogeneous grouping
  arrangements on reading achievement of the
  third-grade students.

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Review of the Literature

• The selection and grouping of students on the
  basis of ability in the elementary school
  classroom and its effects on the achievement is a
  debate that has long been argued by the
  educators, researches, policymakers, and
  administrators (Moody, Vaughn, Schumm, 1997
  Saleh, Lazonder De Jong, 2005 Wilkinson
  Townsend, 2000). Ireson and Hallam found that,
  research on ability grouping has a long history,
  going back to the early 1900s and encompasses
  both quantitative surveys and ethnographic work
  (1999, p. 344).

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Review of the Literature (continues)

• Although researches admit that the social
  grouping practices are not responsible for the
  success or failure of a certain program
  (Cunningham, Hall, Defee, 1998), it is believed
  that the way the students are grouped for
  instruction serves as a facilitator of teaching
  and learning (Moody et al., 1997 Elbaum, Schumm,
  Vaughn, 1997 Chorzempa Graham, 2006).
• The studies by Saleh, et al. (2005), Fiedler,
  Lange, Winebrenner (2002), and Hutchinson
  (2003) state positive effects for ability
  grouping. Pertaining to the cognitive-developmenta
  l perspective of Bandura (1977), learning is
  partly a social process, and that it is socially
  supported. In a class broken into instructional
  groups, the socio-cultural milieu fosters the
  interaction among students around cognitively
  appropriate tasks.

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Review of the Literature (continues)

• On the other hand, Mills found that those
  opposed to ability grouping are concerned about
  the perceived psychological damage to low
  achievers, the slower pace and lower quality of
  instruction, the more inexperienced or sometimes
  less-capable teachers assigned to teach
  lower-ability students, the low expectations for
  student performance held by teachers, and the
  absence of strong behavioral peer role models in
  classes for low-ability students (1998, p.1).
  Generally, the advocates and opponents identify
  advantages and disadvantages for ability grouping
  across numerous educational tasks and outcomes
  (Elbaum, et. al, 1999 Schullery Schullery,
  2006 Chorzempa Graham, 2006).

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Statement of the Hypothesis

• Twenty low-ability achieving students will attain
  high reading test scores in heterogeneous
  instruction at P. S. 152 in Brooklyn, New York.

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References

• Bandura, A. (1977). Social learning theory. New
  York General Learning Press.
• Chorzempa, B. F., Graham, S. (2006, August).
  The primary-grade teachers use of
• within-class ability grouping in reading.
  Journal of Educational Psychology, 98 (3),
  529-541. Retrieved September 9, 2008, from
  PsycARTICLES database.
• Cunningham, P. M., Hall, D. P., Defee, M.
  (1998). Nonability-grouped, multilevel
• instruction Eight years later. The Reading
  Teacher, 51 (8), 652-664.
• Elbaum, B., Moody, S. W., Schumm, J. S. (1999).
  Mixed-ability grouping for reading
• What students think Electronic version.
  Learning Disabilities Research Practice, 14
  (1), 61-66.
• Elbaum, B. E., Schumm, J. S., Vaughn, S. (1997,
  May). Urban middle-elementary
• students perceptions of grouping formats for
  reading instruction. The Elementary School
  Journal, 97 (5), 475-500. Retrieved September 30,
  2008, from JSTOR database.
• Fiedler, E. D., Lange, R. E., Winebrenner, S.
  (2000). In search of reality Unraveling
• the myths about tracking, ability, grouping, and
  gifted Special issue. Roeper Review, 24,
  108-111.
• Hodgkinson, H. (2000). Educational demographics
  What teachers should know.
• Educational Leadership, 58 (4), 6-11.
• Hutchison, D. (2003). The effect of group-level
  influences on pupils progress in
• reading. British Educational Research Journal,
  29 (1), 25-40. Retrieved September 11, 2008, from
  JSTOR database.
• Ireson, J., Hallam, S. (1999, September).
  Raising standards Is ability grouping the
• answer. Oxford Review of Education, 25 (3),
  343-358. Retrieved September 9, 2008, from JSTOR
  database.

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References

• Kutnick, P., Blatchford, P., Baines, E. (2002,
  April). Pupil grouping in primary school
• classrooms Sites for learning and social
  pedagogy. British Educational Research Journal,
  28 (2), 187-206. Retrieved September 30, 2008,
  from JSTOR database.
• Mills, R. (1998, June). Grouping students for
  instruction in middle schools. (Digest No.
• EDO-PS-98-4). Champaign, IL ERIC
  Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood
  Education, University of Illinois. (ERIC Document
  Reproduction Service No. ED419631).
• Moody, S. W., Vaughn, S., Schumm, J. S. (1997,
  November/December). Instructional
• grouping for reading Teachers view. Remedial
  and Special Education, 18, 347-356. Retrieved
  September 10, 2008, from Education database.
• National Center for Education Statistics. (2003).
  Status and trends in the education of
• Hispanics. Retrieved October 2, 2008, from
• http//nces.ed.gov/pubs2003/2003008.pdf
• Saleh, M., Lazonder, A. W., De Jong, T. (2005,
  March). Effects of within-class ability
• grouping on social interaction, achievement, and
  motivation. Instructional
• Science An International Journal of Learning
  and Cognition, 33 (2), 105-119. Retrieved October
  2, 2008, from ERIC database. (EJ733354).
• Schullery, N. M., Schullery, S. E. (2006,
  August). Are heterogeneous or homogeneous
• groups more beneficial to students Electronic
  version. Journal of Management Education, 30
  (4), 542-556.
• Wilkinson, I. A. J., Townsend, M. A. R. (2000,
  March). From Rata to Rimu Grouping
• for instruction in best practice New Zealand
  classrooms. The Reading Teacher, 53 (6), 460-471.

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• THE END