How Ability Grouping Changes Children — What Longitudinal Research Shows

5 min read日本語版あり
Audience
Parents of children in schools that use ability grouping; parents thinking about class placement as children approach middle school
Target length
~1,400 words
Status
Draft v1 (translated from Japanese v1)
Original
../168_tracking_ability_grouping.md

Lead

"I'd like my child in the higher-level group." And also, sincerely: "I want all the children to learn together." Both impulses come from genuine parental concern. And neither intuition — that grouping helps the top, or that it leaves the bottom behind — has a simple answer.

For decades, educational researchers have been investigating exactly this question. Which of those two intuitions is more accurate? Or does it depend on circumstances? When large longitudinal datasets are brought to bear, what do they actually say?

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