Separating students into homogeneous groups is a common instructional practice used by elementary teachers during reading instruction. Although researchers have been studying the effects of homogeneous grouping for many decades, there is little consensus on whether grouping is an effective or equitable instructional practice. The central challenge…

According to a proverb often referring to the misery that prevails in restricted if enlightened surroundings, "It is dark under the lamp." Urban areas have emerged as centers of excellence as far as economic development is concerned. People coming from diverse cultural, professional, and economic backgrounds live in cities. Gaps their…

Gifted education programs are diverse with respect to their structure and foci. This diversity is reflective of the field itself. With this large, multi-state study, we surveyed practices employed in elementary schools (N = 1,548). Differences were observed in the implementation mechanics of English and mathematics curriculum. Interrelationships…

A study of six gifted elementary students found that students in the homogeneous gifted class showed a greater increase in the number of control functions performed by the mind-machines they proposed, offered descriptions of their machines which were longer, more sophisticated, and more creative, and leap-frogged off of each others' ideas.…

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

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)

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

Studied reference processes in within-class grouping for elementary school students in the Netherlands in homogeneous (n=16) and heterogeneous (n=14) classes. Findings indicate that homogeneous grouping sets strong reference processes in motion, and processes of comparison have considerably greater effects in homogeneous groups, with negative…

Four measures of performance of three types of pairings (boy/boy, girl/girl, girl/boy) involved in completion of a language task on microcomputers gave consistent results. Single-gender pairs improved in comparison with individuals working alone but mixed-gender pairs did not. Single-gender pairs tended to share task and discuss solutions, whereas…

Forty third graders divided into average and below average reading skill groups were given a story comprehension task that consisted of two conditions, listen through and think aloud. Average readers generated significantly more explanatory inferences and comprehension performance as measured by story recall was significantly better for both…

The literature review presented here was conducted to investigate various types of differentiation in programs for academically gifted elementary school students. For the purpose of the review, the term "academically gifted" refers to students with high general intellectual ability; no speciic level of intelligence is implied. Following…

Twenty-one studies of the effectiveness of various grouping plans for elementary reading instruction are reviewed in this paper. Following the review, the studies are summarized according to the grade level with which they dealt, and conclusions are drawn regarding the most effective grouping plans. Among the conclusions reported are: (1) no one…

Considers how educational practices may be disintegrating children's development of a sense of a self that strives toward integrity and wholeness. Focuses on the current overemphasis on homogeneous grouping and IQ tests, the dullness of modern textbooks, and the lack of encouragement of critical thinking skills. (SKC)

Investigation of Northern Ireland grammar school students' (N=125) attitudes toward streaming for French instruction revealed that streaming did not appear to engender feelings of alienation in the pupils subjected to it and actually helped many students keep up with the work. (CB)

Handwriting performance was measured over baseline, direct contingent reward, and implicit reward conditions for elementary-grade children from normal classes. Extinctive reactions present under implicit reward conditions were significantly stronger for groups of eight than for paired subjects. Age-level factors were not significantly related to…