Examined the relationship between segregated education and school outcomes for African American students in a school district regarded as a model of successful desegregated public schooling. Surveys indicated that many of the schools remained segregated at the building level. All secondary core academic classes were tracked and racially…

Examined the long-term effects of ability-grouped mathematics classes on 1,139 seventh-graders who participated in the Michigan Study of Adolescent Life Transitions. The results revealed some negative and no positive correlates at the tenth-grade level for low-ability students placed in low-ability classrooms, compared with their peers placed in…

Identifies administrative implications of preliminary findings from a Canadian longitudinal study comparing performance and attitudes of homogeneously and heterogeneously grouped gifted fifth graders. Although no statistically significant differences were found at the beginning of fifth grade, by year's end, five statistically significant…

Examines the strength of the relationships among student self-esteem, the ability group of the school band and class stream they attend, and their self-perceived academic performance in a non-Western context. Focuses on the responses of 280 secondary school students in Hong Kong. Supports the "big fish--little pond" effect of ability…

Reinterprets Betts and Shkolnick's results in an article appearing in this "EER" issue. The data do not allow accurate classification of tracked and untracked classrooms. There appears to be little difference in student performance and resource allocation between schools that formally and informally group students by ability. (MLH)

The use of ability grouping is frequently justified on the grounds that it is an effective means of raising attainment. Little large-scale quantitative research has been undertaken since the introduction of the National Curriculum in England and Wales. The aim of this article is to examine the effects of setting on students' achievement in…

Using the US national sample from the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and the Rasch modeling method, this study identified the conceptual progression sequence of various matter concept aspects, and compared students' latent abilities against the sequence. We found that the four matter aspects, i.e. conservation, physical…

Spearman's "Law of Diminishing Returns" states that the g saturation of a test is greater for individuals with lower, rather than higher, test scores, and that it decreases with age. A common methodological problem in testing Spearman's "Law of Diminishing Returns" with respect to ability differentiation is how to create the…

This study examined a focused remediation and enrichment effort among school and university faculty to affect the mathematics achievement of a group of third-grade students in a Title I elementary school. A total of 87 students participated in the Code RED (Remediation and Enrichment Days) Project. During the Code RED Project, student assessment…

This paper discusses implications of ability grouping in elementary reading instruction according to current research, and how such research can be applied to the classroom practice of "guided reading" within a balanced literacy program. The paper suggests that the "balanced literacy" approach from New Zealand is basically the…

This paper addresses common concerns of parents about the social development of gifted children. It stresses the importance of three key factors: (1) a responsive home environment where the child is respected; (2) opportunities to relate to other gifted children, especially during the early years, when self-concept is formed; and (3) opportunities…

This book critically examines gifted education in America as a demonstration of meritocracy and elitism in education. It is contended that, by creating and funding gifted programs, schools engage in a form of "educational triage", providing high quality education to an elite minority. The book addresses questions concerning the…

Describes a mixture of rigid and flexible grouping by achievement on the basis of the television course "Speak Out" in the 7th school year of a Gesamtschule offering supplementary courses. (Text is in German.) (IFS/WGA)

Why are some students more likely to succeed in or fail mathematics than their peers, in spite of similar learning opportunities? Frequently such differences have been framed within liberal or even conservative discourses that identify purportedly innate dispositions, such as the ability or intelligence, as the root of differential success.…

This study investigated the development of abstract mathematical thought and spatial relations of 13- and 14-year-old students who attended public schools in Australia, Japan, and the United States. Dependent variables included age, ability grouping, ethnicity, sex, mathematics attitudes, and mathematics classroom behaviors. Significant…