In 2003, Chicago schools required students entering ninth grade with below-average math scores to take two periods of algebra. This led to higher test scores for students with both above- and below-average skills, yet failure rates increased for above-average students. We examine the mechanisms behind these surprising results. Sorting by incoming…

Used data from the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) to study tracking as curricular differentiation and student placement in elementary and secondary school in the United States, Germany, and Japan. Findings show clear national differences and conflicts based on dominant cultural beliefs. (SLD)

Examined the class formation procedures used in 22 elementary schools from two districts and the influence these procedures had on the composition of 200 classes, 56 of which were combination classes of students from two grade levels. Principals tended to assign higher ability and more independent students to combination classes to ease teacher…

Johnson-Neyman, Potthoff, and Erlander and Gustavsson techniques for obtaining confidence regions for the difference between regression surfaces are compared. (DG)

Data collected on 25 ways teachers interact with first-grade students participating in reading groups within intact classrooms were analyzed with class mean analyses and two types of within-class analyses. A large number of statistically significant relationships occurred only at the student-within-reading-group level. (Author/GK)

The relationships among (a) student and group characteristics, group interaction, and achievement in small groups in junior high school mathematics classrooms and (b) the stability of these relationships over time were investigated. Interaction in the group was a potent predictor of achievement. (Author/LC)

This study investigates the claim that pupil race affects the reading grouping decisions of elementary school teachers, causing Black children to be overrepresented in lower ability groups. These analyses failed to uncover evidence of racial bias, though Black pupils were more likely to be placed in the lowest groups. (Author/LMO)

The relationship between grouping and friendship is examined in a longitudinal data set containing information on students in 110 reading groups in 32 classrooms of fourth, fifth, and sixth grades. (Author/LMO)

The effects of (1) opportunity to interact with classmates; (2) positive goal interdependence; (3) positive goal and reward interdependence; and (4) positive goal and reward interdependence with an added contingency for the use of collaborative skills were investigated. Results indicate that positive goal and reward interdependence are needed to…

Achievement and attitudinal effects of three mathematics instruction methods directed in varying degrees toward accommodating diversity in student performance levels were compared in two randomized field experiments with third- through sixth-grade classes. Treatments included Team Assisted Individualization, Ability Group Active Teaching, the…

Aptitude by treatment interactions are investigated in the context of paired associate learning. Individuals are grouped by preference for visual or verbal items on classifying lists of paired associates and these groups are used to predict performance on criterion lists. (DG)

The costs, effects, and utility of mathematics instruction assisted by microcomputer presentations were compared with those of conventional classroom approaches, using 79 students in grades 3 and 5. Results indicate that grouping students for instruction on microcomputers in classrooms is cost effective. (SLD)

A study of restructuring in three urban elementary schools with ethnically diverse populations found that the schools did change, with new student grouping patterns, new ways of allocating time, increased teacher collaboration, and new ideas for professional development. Changing teacher practice was primarily a matter of learning rather than…

The mathematics lesson of 63 Year 5 Australian teachers were observed over a term. A casual model linking student, school, and teacher background information, class size, teaching practices, and mean class mathematics achievement was developed for testing the relationship between class size, teaching practices, and student achievement. (Author/JAZ)

Three case studies in southern California explore the effects of parental involvement on a child's reading achievement through the parent's influence over reading group placement. Two Hispanic first-graders improved substantially when their parents took actions explicitly related to reading group placement; a third remained in a low reading group.…