Allocating students into separate classes within a school depending on their "ability" is common in many countries. This paper presents a theoretical discussion of the practice, considering why it persists despite a long history of research emphasizing consequential problems. Our discussion identifies and critiques four possible reasons…

Why do inequalities in schooling persist, even in relatively egalitarian school systems? This article examines within school sorting as an explanation. We use classroom data on friendship networks in 480 European secondary schools and contrast comprehensive (England, Sweden) and tracked systems (Germany, Netherlands). Our question is to what…

This article gives a bird's eye view of a doctoral thesis which investigated the labelling of non-disabled secondary school learners, with particular reference to the social and psychological spheres, and their influence on learning. It reports on the process and forms of labelling as one part of the findings. The study had 54 participants: three…

The goal of this paper is to describe and analyze the relationship between ability tracking and student social trust, in the context of low-income students in developing countries. Drawing on the results from a longitudinal study among 1,436 low-income students across 132 schools in rural China, we found a significant lack of interpersonal trust…

Schools, as social systems, may knowingly or unintentionally perpetuate inequities through unchallenged oppressive systems. This paper focuses on mathematics as a subject area in school practices in which inequities seem to be considered normal. Issues of racism and racialization in the discipline of mathematics are predominantly lived through the…

Research demonstrates that teachers' expectations of students have long-term effects on students' educational, occupational, health and well-being outcomes. In this Australian-based study, teachers were invited to explore the questions "Do teachers have different expectations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students?"…

Teacher recommendations are an important factor in the process of track placement, but research has shown that they are biased by pupils' social background. Pupils from higher socio-economic backgrounds are more likely to get the advice to enrol in an academic track than pupils from lower socio-economic backgrounds, irrespective of prior…

Two objectives guided this research. First, this study examined how well teachers' tracking decisions contribute to the homogenization of their students' achievements. Second, the study explored whether teachers' tracking decisions would be outperformed in homogenizing the students' achievements by statistical models of tracking decisions. These…

Research has consistently shown 'ability' grouping (tracking) to be prey to poor practice, and to perpetuate inequity. A feature of these problems is inequitable and inaccurate practice in allocation to groups or 'tracks'. Yet little research has examined whether such practices might be improved. Here, we examine survey and interview findings from…

Purpose: Since 2007, it has been mandatory for all vocational schools in Denmark to assess the prior qualifications of all students when they begin at the school and to use this assessment to divide students into different ability-based courses (streaming) with the aim of increasing the retention of students. The purpose of this paper is to…

As a way to raise attainment, schools are encouraged to form ability groups across classes for particular subjects. There is limited evidence however about the relationship between setting and primary school children's characteristics and how teachers perceive them. The aim of this study was to investigate associations between set positioning for…

Numerous studies have highlighted a clear civic achievement gap between students from different ethnic and economic backgrounds in countries such as Singapore and the United States. Concurrently, researchers from both countries have noted that access to government and civics classes and curricula differs considerably across and within schools and…

In this paper we examine the role which distance, in a variety of forms, can play in the reproduction, intensification or reduction of educational inequality in different types of school systems in different countries. This is a very broad issue, and in the paper we examine the ways in which distance to school has emerged as an important factor in…

The pervasiveness of academic ability grouping, or streaming, as a means of organising students into instructional groups in New Zealand schools remains a dominant discourse, despite international and New Zealand research that casts doubt on the benefits of this practice. This article documents teachers' views on the effects of an innovative form…

In this study, longitudinal cohort-sequential latent growth modeling was used to determine the effects of (a) socioeconomically mixed preschool and kindergarten classrooms, (b) the implementation of an education program aiming to accelerate socioeconomically disadvantaged children's emergent academic skills, and (c) the amount of teacher-managed…