A study was conducted to examine peer effects among 138 undergraduates at Williams College, a highly selective four-year liberal arts school. The study explored whether students would perform better writing about newspaper articles they read and discussed in academically homogeneous or heterogeneous groups of three. In homogeneous groups, all…

Examines the literature concerning the positive and negative effects of ability grouping, reporting on eighteen reading research studies. (RB)

A point-by-point criticism is made of F. H. Flynn's article, The Case for Homogeneous Sets in Mathematics'' (Mathematics in School, Volume 1 Number 2, 1972) in an attempt to show that the arguments used in trying to justify homogeneous grouping in mathematics are invalid. (Editor/DT)

Among the findings was that the heterogeneous groups showed more change on the FIRO scale. Also, on rating scales measuring positive feeling towards group, the initial superiority of homogeneous groups was reduced by the end of the T group and that heterogeneous groups manifested more significant increases. (Author/CG)

Crosstabular analysis tends to show that the streaming system is inversely related to absenteeism and dropping-out, even when intelligence, age, academic performance, and type of school are considered separately. A path analytic model conforms to the crosstabular analysis. The streaming system remains associated with both absenteeism and…

An extensive review of the literature on Mexican-American elderly reveals more argument than consensus in interpretation of available data and a tendency for researchers to treat this population as if it were homogeneous. To improve this situation, specific recommendations for future research are offered. (Author)

Two researchers present their views on effective strategies for ability grouping, pointing out how grouping both low- and high-ability students together can help both to achieve better when they are grouped heterogeneously. (CB)

A rationale is offered for the implementation of full-time programing for gifted students, arguing that scheduling less time does not maximize their potential. Florida programs for the gifted are noted, and suggestions are offered for school district officials who wish to implement similar full-time gifted programs. (JDD)

Cooperative student work often fails to generate individual understanding of abstract algebra materials. Suggests techniques that enable abstract algebra students to master proofs and enhance cooperative work. (Author/ASK)

The findings in this study were generally inconsistent and nonsupportive of a relationship between demographic homogeneity and spousal response consensus within or across the two areas of sex knowledge and family planning attitudes. Consideration of the limitations, implications, and future directions of this research are presented. (Author/PC)

The paper explicates the major assumptions of reference-group theory in order to deduce hypotheses with direct application to studies of classroom ability grouping. (Author)

Suggests that small groups be established in the language arts classroom based on students' skill strengths and weaknesses and on students' preferred companions. (DD)

A sociolinguistic study of the success of communication styles and utterance structures used by 40 retarded children when teaching a simple board game to a listener of similar or dissimilar age and ability to themselves was conducted to see whether retarded children modify their communications as a function of listener characteristics. (BB)

This paper points out the logical, theoretical, and statistical problems associated with the computation of the "pooled-within" correlation coefficient in partially segregated educational systems. (Author/LMO)