Definition
Ability grouping is a term referring to a wide variety of school practices that group students for instruction according to one or more measures of academic ability or achievement including their grades, teachers’ recommendations, measured IQ, standardized or locally developed achievement tests, etc.
Description
Ability grouping is intended to foster homogeneity in academic ability within educational environments. Ability grouping can occur within classrooms, between different classrooms or educational programs within schools, or even between schools, as is exemplified in countries like Germany. Sometimes students in different ability groups receive basically the same curriculum, with those in higher-ability groups just moving somewhat faster or covering topics in greater depth. In other situations, classes of different ability levels are presented with very different subject matter, such as math classes...
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References
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Schofield, J.W. (2011). Ability Grouping. In: Goldstein, S., Naglieri, J.A. (eds) Encyclopedia of Child Behavior and Development. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-79061-9_12
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-79061-9_12
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