Argumentative Essay On Ability Groups

Register to read the introduction… The needs of higher achieving students as well as lower achieving students can be better addressed through ability groups as well. In contrast, a widely made criticism of ability grouping is the stigmatism that may be placed upon the students. Children in lower achieving groups may develop poor self concepts of themselves as learners and readers. Buttaro et al. (2010) states that “ability grouping in the early grades may constitute one of the structural factors that lead to ability grouping in secondary education and to what scholars now identified as de facto tracking” (p. 1328). Carbonaro (2005) found that students in higher tracks exert more effort than lower tracked students. Although effort levels can be affected by more than just a student’s track, it is a concern for many teachers who are teaching these lower tracked students. MacIntyre and Ireson (2002) found that children in higher ability groups as opposed to lower ability groups in general had stronger self concepts of themselves as learners. Their findings suggest that ability grouping can be related to a child’s self concept. Interestingly, they explored the implications of children being misplaced in groups. This leads to the suggestion that teachers need to have better methods in how to properly place children in groups to avoid damaging the child’s self concept and limiting their achievement over time. This study also suggested that although students can move throughout ability groupings, many teachers find that movement through groups is a cumbersome task and it is easier to have more permanent groupings. It is to be noted that this study was completed in a primary school in London and focused on the use of within-class ability grouping in mathematics, not reading. However, since it is not dealing with quantitative …show more content…
Further research should be done that involves more data related to reading achievement gains when a child is placed in a mixed ability group. A wide range of grade levels and reading abilities should be used in these studies and demographics should also be taken into account when developing samples in future