by Sarah Lippert

Created on: October 05, 2010

Ability grouping, one of the most controversial topics arising among the nation's leaders in education, is a method of dividing school age children that promotes a greater learning capacity for a child. There are several different ways to group children based on ability; however, each way will directly effect student achievement. Depending on the actions of schools and teachers, ability grouping has the potential to advance a child's education and encourage the child to aim higher and work harder. 

In grouping children based on ability, there are five ways that are most popular among current educators. The first is regrouping for reading and mathematics. Regrouping for mathematics is a unique situation in which the student will only be placed in a different class setting for his or her reading and/or math classes, allowing the student to remain in the classroom with his peers throughout the other parts of the day. The decision to place a student in a higher or lower level math or reading class is made by both the teacher and the parent. It is a decision based on the child's current level of achievement with consideration to work load, discipline, and desire to be placed in the higher or lower level class. Regrouping for reading and/or math class is the most predominant form of ability grouping used in the United States (Hollifield). 

Within-class ability grouping is also widely used by educators across the nation. Unlike the regrouping method, this form of ability grouping strives to keep children with other students of similar age and, in most cases, in their same classroom. Within-class ability grouping is often used by educators in an effort to encourage the maturity of the child or children and provide in-classroom accommodations for their diverse learning abilities. The decision to use within-class ability grouping is made by the teacher, based on overall observation of the class as a whole. Current grades, attitude, and discipline are the main concerns of a teacher as he or she is considering within-class ability grouping. This method of ability grouping is ordinarily the most controversial among elementary educators. 

Another type of ability grouping, which is closely related to within-class ability grouping, is grouping children by abilities for class assignments. Class assignment ability grouping is the most flexible and least drastic method of ability grouping (Hollifield). The division of the groups can be organized in several ways.

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