Students often struggle to comprehend complex text. In response, we conducted an initial, year-long study of Quality Talk, a teacher-facilitated, small-group discussion approach designed to enhance students' basic and high-level comprehension, in two fourth-grade classrooms. Specifically, teachers delivered instructional mini-lessons on discourse…

Replication studies are extremely rare in education. This randomized controlled trial (RCT) is a scale-up replication of Fuchs et al., which in a sample of 139 found a statistically significant positive impact for Number Rockets, a small-group intervention for at-risk first graders that focused on building understanding of number operations. The…

The influence of one teacher's scaffolding moves on children's performance in free-flowing child-led small-group discussions was investigated. Three moves were examined: prompting for and praising the use of evidence, asking for clarification, and challenging. Lag sequential analysis was applied to a corpus of over 5,300 speaking turns during 30…

Two interventions derived from expectation states theory that were intended to counteract stratification in classrooms through academically heterogeneous small groups were tested in 13 elementary school classrooms. Supported the hypotheses that use of status treatments would be associated with higher rates of participation of low-status students.…

Student ability and behaviors during small-group interaction as mediators of effective small-group learning were examined. Comparison of test results indicated that students trained in small-group interaction participated in more task-related interaction than control students, and task-related interaction enhanced achievement and retention.…

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)

Compared effects on achievement and verbal interaction of a cooperative learning instructional program promoting basic communication skills and academic helping skills (experimental condition) with those of a program promoting only basic communication skills. Results with 166 seventh graders show more elaborated help and higher achievement for…

Two teachers each taught a 2-week fractions unit to two classes of grades 4-5 students. Each teacher taught one class using direct instruction and the other using a small-group variation of direct instruction. Regression analysis on achievement showed significant aptitude-treatment interaction (ATI) and significant teacher effects. (Author/RL)

The performance of fifth and sixth grade Anglos and minorities were compared working in small interdependent learning groups or in traditional, teacher-focused classrooms. A covariance analysis indicated that Anglos perform equally well in both groups. Minorities performed significantly better in interdependent classes than in traditional classes.…

Structured naturalistic observations and student surveys were analyzed to determine (1) the extent to which small group instruction was used in elementary school classrooms; (2) the academic conditions under which small group instruction was used; and (3) the effects of small group instruction on student attitudes, particularly those related to…

Small group instruction was assessed in a naturalistic study involving 206 observations of mathematics periods in 33 classrooms of grades 4, 5, and 6 in 21 schools. Six types of group instruction were identified, and teachers' use of such groups was explored. (SLD)

Two teachers taught a unit to two classes of students. High- and low-ability students did better in the small group approach, while medium ability students did better in the large group. Analyses of group processes indicated students benefited from peer tutoring processes which occurred in small groups. (Author/DWH)

A whole-class model providing for student diversity through remediation and enrichment in small groups was compared with a two-group model accommodating diversity through fixed within-class ability groups. Higher mathematics achievement was found for the whole-class model in a study of 1,736 fourth, fifth, and sixth graders. (SLD)