Effects of Ability Grouping on Academic Achievement and Self-Concept of African-American and White Students

Abstract

persist. A great deal of sentiment and research, both pro and con, about the merits of ability grouping are recorded in the literature (Noland and Taylor 1986). Though recent syntheses and reviews of past research criticize many research designs and do not support the practice of ability grouping in increasing academic achievement (Drahozol and Hanna 1978; Epstein 1980; Esposito 1971; Kirp and Youdof 1974; Nevi 1987; Persell 1976; Slavin 1987, 1988, 1990), the average educator seems to be convinced of its merits. For this reason, the practice of ability grouping continues throughout the United States (Glickman 1991). Theoretically, the homogeneous ability grouping of students for instruction should help reduce the wide range of variability in instructional classes and permit teachers to work more effectively with groups of children nearly equivalent in academic abilities. Achievement testing is the major tool for assigning ability levels. Because test scores tend to be different for students along lines of race and social class (Epstein 1980; Hawley 1981; Oakes 1985; Rossell et al. 1981), one unfortunate side effect of ability grouping has been the concentration of African-American students into