This article examines cluster grouping as a viable option for meeting the needs of gifted and talented students. It also discusses the strengths and weaknesses of cluster grouping from the perspective of conclusions obtained through the implementation of cluster grouping in an elementary school district. (Contains references.) (CR)

This article provides options and a rationale for expanding gender-grouping considerations to include single-gender, coed, and combination strategies for instruction in secondary physical education classes. This rationale is based on empirical evidence that suggests that female students are denied equal opportunity to achieve learning goals during…

In New Zealand, single-sex public schools are held in greater esteem by the community. Because single-sex public schools are more popular than coeducational public schools, the single-sex schools in larger population areas have selective admission policies to screen the large number of applicants. This paper argues that single-sex schools end up…

This study compared the cognitive, social, and global self-perceptions of gifted children, over the course of a school year, in three settings that represented increasingly higher concentration levels of exceptional cognitive ability and for increasingly extensive parts of the day. Subjects were 176 students in grades 3-5 from the following three…

Given that grouping students homogeneously has proved to be more deleterious than beneficial to student learning and self-concept, principals of middle level schools have the responsibility to implement more heterogeneous grouping arrangements in their schools. Grouping programs that provide multiple criteria for determining student ability and…

Reports on a debate on the relative merits of grouping language students according to abilities. (AM)

Research in classrooms must be sensitive to new dimensions of teaching tasks that emerge at the group level. There are at least two tasks that can be identified as being affected by changes in group characteristics. The first task is to set the stage--the teacher must establish the proper context or setting to support academic activities. The…

RESEARCH FINDINGS ON ABILITY GROUPING ARE INCONCLUSIVE BECAUSE NEITHER HETEROGENEITY NOR HOMOGENEITY HAS BEEN DEFINED WITH SUFFICIENT CLARITY. THE TENDENCY IN THESE STUDIES HAS BEEN TO STRESS THE PERFORMANCE OF THE PUPILS IN SUCH CLASSES RATHER THAN THE PERFORMANCE OF THE CLASS AS A WHOLE. IN A STUDY OF 181 CLASSES (4,705 PUPILS) HOMOGENEITY WAS…

TWO EMPIRICAL STUDIES WERE MADE TO TEST THE DESIRABILITY OF EMPLOYING SOME FORM OF ABILITY GROUPING TO ENHANCE LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES IN SCHOOLS. THE TWO FIELD STUDIES SPECIFICALLY EXPLORED SOME OF THE MOTIVATIONAL IMPLICATIONS OF ABILITY GROUPING AS MANIFESTED IN SCHOLASTIC ACHIEVEMENT, REPORTED INTEREST IN SCHOOLWORK, AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF…

The effects of homogeneous ability grouping versus heterogeneous grouping on the reading achievement of 18 slow learners at the first grade level are studied here. Two matched groups, each containing 9 pupils classified as slow learners from reading achievement based on Metropolitan Reading Test scores, are placed in homogeneous and heterogeneous…

Nine predictor measures available from student files were used in classifying seventh- and eighth-grade students in mathematics classes into one of three or four levels of instruction in the following year. These measures were scores on tests of language intelligence, nonlanguage intelligence, general intelligence, reading vocabulary, reading…

This paper traces the origins of educational tracking, streaming, or grouping to the period between the report of the Committee of Ten in 1894 and the publication of the Cardinal Principles of Education in 1918. The analysis of grouping, in its origin and in its consequences for students, concludes that its effect on the subject of English has…

This paper discusses the use of student groups in formal education. A model is proposed which involves the development of student interdependence on common tasks, the use of group incentives which may be earned through competition with a standard or with other groups, and the exchange of student resources in teaching and learning. In contrast to…

Observation of educational environments of 39 gifted students in primary and middle schools from a school district in England identified two methods of educational enrichment: circumstantial and specific. Teaching skills for the development of an individualized curriculum within the existing organizational structure are stressed. (Author/CB)