In order to determine if homogeneous grouping in basic expository writing classes makes teaching more effective, 2,212 incoming college freshmen were given a two-hour essay placement examination and divided into four groups according to the kinds of writing problems they had. They then enrolled in sections designated by placement group, except for certain randomly selected students who were enrolled in seven heterogeneous sections. Near the end of the semester another essay test was administered along with questionnaires to students and faculty members who had participated in the homogeneous groups. The end-of-course essays were rated using the same methods used for rating the pretests. Although the differences between the end-of-course examination scores of the heterogeneous groups and the homogeneous groups were not great enough to be statistically significant, a great majority of both teachers and students were convinced that homogeneous grouping did make teaching in the writing courses more effective. Students in classes of 15 or fewer showed greater improvement than students in larger classes, although once again the difference was not statistically significant. In addition, it was found that students improve in writing proficiency as a result of taking freshman English. (JF)