An Evaluation of Ability Grouping

Abstract

More than.:';teaj years ago, ability grouping for the purpose of im proving the effectiveness of instruction was instituted experimentally in twenty-three elementary schools in Philadelphia. Assignment of pupils to groups was; made mainly on the basis of teacher judgment. At the request of the principals.concerned, the practice of grouping was ex tended to .othe^r I schools. Consequently in September, 1925, there were forty-two; elementary schools in which attempts were made to group pupils homogeneously, at least in some grades. In January, 1926, a survey of the relative success of pupils in grouped and ungrouped classes indicated the desirability of reducing intensive experimentation to a smaller group of schools in order that the bases for classification into groups, the course adjustments for ability groups, and other factors of the experiment could be satisfactorily controlled, and pupil achievement evaluated in the light of known conditions. As a result, during the last six years, intensive experimental work has been .conducted in five schools only. A number of other schools have ability grouping, but with a flexibility of conditions as determined by the principal of the given school. In the five selected schools certain definite specifications have been developed with a view to controlling the conditions of the experiment. The most important of these are the following: 1. The pupils of a given grade section are divided into groups according to some-measure of brightness or estimated rate of progress. In most cases in the five schools a given grade-section has enough pupils for three groups. . 2. Classification of pupils into groups in the primary grades is based on comprehensive individual examinations administered by clinical psy chologists of the Division of Special Education. 3. Pupils in the intermediate grades are classified according to the results of a group intelligence or classification test which is highly verbal. The Otis Classification Test or the Philadelphia Intelligence Test is used for this purpose. 4. Transfers of pupils from group to group are limited to (1) those cases where definite objective data indicate the desirability of such 284