Education Week - March 9, 2022 - 5

WHAT THE
RESEARCH SAYS
Classroom Reading Groups: 5 Lessons From Recent Studies
Reading groups can widen learning
gaps if they're not used effectively
By Sarah D. Sparks
After two years of pandemic disruptions to students'
reading progress, schools nationwide are scrambling for
ways to help them progress faster. Small-group instruction
in reading is one of the most commonly used approaches to
differentiate learning, but studies suggest that traditional
ability-based classroom groups don't always work and the
structure of those groups can make a big difference in their
effects, both on students' reading achievement and their
feelings of connection.
Data from the most recent 4th grade reading results
from the National Assessment of Educational Progress,
conducted in 2019 just before the pandemic hit, show that
teachers who used different-ability groups and studentchosen
groups more often had fewer students who
performed below basic proficiency in reading.
Districts looking to use small reading groups can draw
some lessons from other recent studies.
Lesson: Early ability grouping can widen reading
gaps in the long term
Study: " Ability Grouping in the Early Grades: Long-Term
Consequences for Educational Equity in the United States "
As part of a broader National Institute of Health study
of early academic achievement, Anthony Buttaro, Jr.,
and Sophia Catsambis of Queens College at the City
University of New York used federal longitudinal data to
track students' progress from kindergarten through 8th
grade, comparing students who were assigned to abilitybased
reading groups each year with those who either were
taught without groups or grouped in some other way, such
as randomly.
They found that ability grouping concentrated and
worsened reading gaps over time. Students in high reading
groups in early grades had higher reading test scores than
ungrouped students, while those assigned to low reading
groups had lower scores. These differences grew with every
year students were grouped in reading.
Moreover, students who were assigned to low reading
groups for multiple years in kindergarten through 3rd
grades were more likely than ungrouped students to enroll
in 8th grade English classes that were below grade level.
Likewise, students in high reading groups for those early
years were more likely than ungrouped students to enroll in
honors English by 8th grade.
" What we see is that there is not flexibility " in grouping in
any given year, Catsambis said. " The theory behind ability
grouping is that once the student reaches a certain level,
even throughout the academic year, they should be moved
to a higher reading group, " she added, " but that doesn't
really happen very often. You know, a teacher has so much
work to do and so many students to work with, I think it is
possible that the structure of the classroom does not allow
for that flexibility throughout the academic year. "
The researchers also found very little consistency in
how students were grouped. Teachers in the same grade
or school might group their students randomly, by ability,
or not group them at all. But schools that served higher
concentrations of students of color or low-income students
were more likely to use ability grouping. And within the
classes that used ability grouping, boys and students with
behavior problems were more likely to be put in low reading
groups, regardless of their academic ability.
She also noted that ability-based grouping in experimental
trials approaches often rely on very controlled environments,
with teachers specifically trained in grouping practices,
to rapidly assess students' skill development and move
them up quickly as they progress. " When you look at the
nationally representative study that we did, we're looking at
what occurs in the wild, right? And I am not sure how many
teachers would have that specific training that would allow
them to implement the practice in its true form, " Catsambis
said.
Lesson: Focusing on specific skills boosts
group effectiveness
Study: " Meta-analysis of Targeted Small-Group
Reading Interventions "
University of Minnesota researchers Matthew Hall
and Matthew Burns analyzed the results of 26 studies of
small-group reading interventions. While their study did
not analyze ability grouping specifically, it found that small
groups which targeted a specific skill for improvement
were nearly twice as effective on average as small groups
that focused on comprehensive or multiple skill areas.
The researchers also found that small-group interventions
generally had better effects in elementary school than in
middle or high schools.
Lesson: Small groups can improve focus
in STEM classes
Study: " The Impacts of Ability Grouping and Project-Based
Learning in STEM "
Andrea Johnson, a graduate researcher at Winona State
University, tracked academic achievement and observed
students working in groups based on similar or mixed
abilities in science classes. She found that all students in
small groups improved their vocabulary, with the notable
exception of small groups composed solely of lowperforming
students.
However, students who were grouped with those of
similar ability did show more engagement with group
projects or tasks. Mixed-ability groups were more likely
than homogeneous groups to have one or two students
shouldering the bulk of the workload when a task was given
a group grade.
Lesson: Grouping students affects
their friendships, too
Studies: " 'They would make you feel stupid.' Ability Grouping,
Children's Friendships, and Psychosocial Wellbeing in Irish Primary
School " and " Does Ability Grouping Affect UK Primary School
Pupils' Enjoyment of Maths and English? "
Two international studies also suggest educators should
limit labels in reading groups to ensure they do not affect
students' social development.
Deirdre McGillicuddy, an education researcher at
University College Dublin, Ireland, tracked the friendships,
help-seeking behavior, and shifting social status of just over
100 children who were placed in ability-based reading and
math groups in Irish elementary schools.
" Differentiated practices, such as ability grouping,
cannot be considered as neutral and the role they play in
the socioemotional work of learning in the classroom is
profound, " McGillicuddy concluded.
For example, McGillicuddy found that ability-based
reading groups reinforced social hierarchies in the
classroom. Students in high reading groups became less
likely to sit next to, ask for help from, and become friends
with those in low reading groups and vice versa. Moreover,
McGillicuddy found boys, ethnic minorities, and migrant
children were more likely to be socially isolated if they were
in a low reading group.
" They call you dopey, " Gareth, a student assigned to a
low reading group, told McGillicuddy in the study, " cos
they say, 'oh yeah look at ya, ... you can't read. ... You can't
read, that's why you are in the lowest reading group ...
you're the slowest reader.' "
Abbey, Gareth's peer in a high reading group in the
same district, said putting students in set ability groups
prompted teasing. The " teacher shouldn't tell what group
people are in, " she said in the study, " because they would
make you feel stupid or something ... because then other
people would be going to you, 'oh you are in a lower
maths group or reading group,' and they'd start slagging
you. "
In the second study, sociology researcher Vikki Boliver
of Durham University in the United Kingdom and
Queralt Capsada-Munsech, an education researcher at
the University of Glasgow, in Scotland, used nationally
representative, longitudinal data for U.K. children born
in 2000 and 2002 to look at how students' placement in
reading and math ability groups affected their enjoyment of
those classes.
The researchers found students who had been placed in
low-ability groups in math and reading at age 7 were less
likely to either come to enjoy or continue to enjoy those
subjects by age 11. However, once taking into account
students' gender and social class, they found the groupings
only significantly influenced students' enjoyment of math
over time.
Lesson: For students who struggle the most,
groups may not be enough
Study: " Current Evidence on the Effects of Intensive
Early Reading Interventions "
Researchers from Vanderbilt University and the
University of Texas-Austin analyzed the results of
18 studies on different aspects of intensive reading
interventions, including the size of small groups. On
average, schools used clusters of three to five students
each. The researchers found that, on average, one-on-one
interventions were nearly twice as effective as small group
instruction for the students who needed intensive reading
support.
However, the researchers also found the most effective
intense interventions in kindergarten through 3rd grades
had common aspects that contributed more to their
effectiveness than group size. Among these were wellprescribed
lessons for modeling and guiding students in
reading practices; content that addressed phonological
awareness, phonics, word recognition, and fluency; and
interventions led by those with connections to the children,
such as staff or community members.
ONLINE EXLUSIVE: See how teachers
reported grouping their students in data
from the National Assessment of Educational
Progress. See the online version of
" Classroom Reading Groups: 5 Lessons From
Recent Studies. " > edweek.org
From remote learning for young children to playground infection risks, schooling under the pandemic is raising a lot of questions for teachers and education leaders. This research column aims to help readers
understand what the research says-and doesn't say-about our new context for learning. If you have a question, please send it to ssparks@educationweek.org.
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Education Week - March 9, 2022

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