Ability Grouping and Cooperative Learningalburnetttag.weebly.com › uploads › 4 › 2 › 5 › 4 › 42540285 › m... · • Stigma Theory: Grouping causes slow-track students

Ability Grouping andCooperative Learning

ELEMECML 6254(Formerly 210:254)

The Gifted and TalentedDr. Audrey RulePowerPoint #5

Based on Text: Davis, G. A., & Rimm, S. B. (2004). Education of the Gifted and Talented (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.

http://www.distanthealer.co.uk/crystals_healing_1.htm

Important Terms and Concepts from this Slide Show

• Homogeneous grouping

• Heterogeneous grouping

• Tracking

• Why people oppose ability grouping

• Jeanne Okes & Mara Sapon-Shevin

• James Gallagher

• Stigma theory

• Blossoming effect

• Meta analysis

• Effect size

• Kulik’s meta-analysis study

• Grouping needs of gifted students

• Cooperative learning

• Social loafing

• Free rider

• Sucker effect

Grouping Issues

http://pro.corbis.com/search/Enlargement.aspx?CID=isg&mediauid=DBCAEC

8B-A979-4079-AED5-8E23166D977A

http://www.spiritvisions.com/picpgs/amethyst.htm

Movement against Ability Grouping

• Began in mid-1980’s. Movement toward heterogeneous grouping.

• Heterogeneous grouping = each group contains students of mixed or diverse abilities.

• Movement away from homogeneous grouping.

• Homogeneous grouping = each group contains students of about the same abilities.

• Eliminates separate classes for faster and slower students.

http://www.healingcrystals.com/Tower_-

_Amethyst_Crystal_Towers__Extra_.html

Effect on Gifted Students

• The consequences of requiring heterogeneous (mixed abilities) grouping are bad.

• The movement includes abolishing – Classes for gifted students;

– Programs for gifted students.

• With heterogenous grouping, “bright kids learn nothing new until January,” (Quote from Renzulli). Recall how this is what Hollingworth also said.

http://icieparis.net/keynote_speakers

http://vyala.blogspot.com/2011/01/purple-feast-continues-natural-and-man.html

Tracking

• The most common target of critics: Separate classes for students of different abilities.

• Other types of groupings targeted:

• Within-class grouping in which small same-ability groups are formed inside a class.

• The Joplin plan- Students switch classes and are ability grouped for some of the time.

Arguments against Ability Grouping

• Spokespersons against Ability Grouping: Jeannie Oakes and Mara Sapon-Shevin

Presidential Professor in

Education and Associate Dean in

the Graduate School of Education

and Information Studies at the

University of California, Los

Angeles, USA

Mara Sapon-Shevin,

professor of teaching

and leadership

programs, is a

specialist in diversity

and social justice

issues, including full

inclusion, anti-racism

teaching, bullying and

harassment,

cooperative learning.

http://soeweb.syr.edu/facultystaff/

directories/bio.cfm?id=10

http://www.consejocul

turalmundial.org/winn

ers-education-

jeannieoakes.php

Jeannie Oakes Mara Sapon-Shevin

http://www.education-world.com/a_issues/chat/chat206.shtml

http://www.network-democracy.org/camp/pa/sl/oakes.shtml

Jeannie Oakes is Presidential Professor in Educational Equity and Director of UCLA’s Institute for Democracy, Education & Access (IDEA) and UC’s All Campus Consortium on Research for Diversity (ACCORD). Dr. Oakes’ research examines inequalities in U.S. schools, and follows the progress of equity-minded reform.

Mara Sapon-Shevin is professor of inclusive education in the Teaching and Leadership Department for the School of Education at Syracuse University. She specializes in instructing and preparing teachers for inclusive, heterogeneous classrooms. She frequently consults with districts that are attempting to move towards an “inclusive school” model by providing workshops and support for teachers and administrators.


• 1. Tracking is ineffective – students learn less and they lose motivation and self-esteem.

http://organizations.utep.edu/Portals/616/Studen

ts%20on%20GPS%20Activity.jpg

These are the arguments of those

who oppose special groups or

classes for gifted students. You

need to know these arguments

and to be able to counter them.


• 2. The practice is discriminatory and racist because too many minority students are in slow tracks.

http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/now/jul22/students.html







• 3. Unfair in principle. Wrong to deny access to deeper academic content based on ability.

http://a.abcnews.com/images/US/nm_obama_

students_081104_mn.jpg






Why Gifted Ed is Attacked

• Gifted education is So Good:

• Smaller classes;

• More enthusiastic teachers;

• More individualization;

• Richer curriculum;

• These features would benefit all students.

Dr. James Gallagher is an internationally recognized early childhood development expert. Among his many accomplishments, Dr. Gallagher served on Governor James B. Hunt’s planning team to develop the North Carolina School for Science and Mathematics—the first residential school of its kind focusing on talented students in science and mathematics at the secondary level.http://www.fpg.unc.edu/people/fpg_people.cfm?staffid=163

http://skywalker.cochise.edu/wellerr/students/amethyst-cline/AMETHYST.htm

Gifted Students Need Ability Grouping

• Special classes for enriched or accelerated work;

• Weekly or more frequentpullout or resource room groups for independent projects or skill development;

• Small cluster groups in one classroom at each grade for advanced learning activities;

http://crystal-cure.com/amethyst-cluster.html

Gifted Students Need Ability Grouping

• Talent, interest, or project groups;

• In upper grades for part of the day (cross-grade grouping);

• In School-within-a-school plans in which gifted students attend academic classes with gifted students and non-academic classes with regular students.

http://www.tcoe.k12.ca.us/CircleJ/StudentProjects.shtm http://www.3dchem.com/molecules.asp?ID=184

What Research Says about Ability Grouping

• A meta-analysis of 51 studies by Kulik• Meta-analysis: combines the results of

several studies that address a set of related research hypotheses.

• Results are reported in effect sizes.• Effect size a statistic calculated

considering the sample size, mean, and critical significance level.

• Effect size helps to determine whether a statistically significant difference is a difference of practical concern.

http://crystal-cure.com/amethyst.html

Cohen’s d Effect Sizes

• .10 to .35 = small difference

• .35 to .70 = moderate difference

• Above .70 = large difference

• For practical purposes, effect sizes larger than .30 are of a noticeable and practical level.

• This effect size means a difference of 3 or more months of achievement between kids in same ability groups and kids in mixed ability groups.

http://www.tcoe.k12.ca.us/CircleJ/StudentProjects.shtm http://www.dessaccominerals.co.za/picinfo.htm

Meta-Analysis Conclusions

• Favor ability grouping of gifted student and non-gifted as well.

• Gifted students make great progress in math when accelerated.

• Students grouped in lower and middle tracks learn the same amount as students of the same ability grouped in mixed classes.

• High ability grouped students in all subjects outperformed similar students in mixed ability classes.

http://www.tcoe.k12.ca.us/CircleJ/StudentProjects.shtm

http://www.crystallight.com.tw/supreme-quality-deep-purple-amethyst-bracelet-A-695.html

Groupings Effective for Gifted

• Effect size for cross-grade grouping for math was .30.

• Grouping students from different grade levels according to ability.

• Effect size for within-class grouping for math was .35.

• Grouping students from the same class in small ability groups.

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Achievement of Low Ability Students Not Harmed by Ability Grouping

• Effect sizes for within-class ability groups for math

• Low achievers = 0.20 (small improvement);

• Medium-level achievers = 0.15 (small improvement);

• High-ability students = 0.40 (moderate improvement).

• All data from Kulik’s meta-analysis.

http://www.princeton.edu/pr/pwb/05/0516/m/7a.jpghttp://www.cloudninemarketing.com/healthhealersnews/?p=4381

Kulik’s Recommendations

• Although some school programs that group children by ability have only small effects, other grouping programs help children a great deal. Schools should therefore resist calls for the wholesale elimination of ability grouping.

• Highly talented youngsters profit greatly from work in accelerated classes. Schools should therefore try to maintain programs of accelerated work.

http://www.astrouniverse.com/gems/gem_guide.php?id=1

Recommendations Continued

• Highly talented youngsters also profit greatly from an enriched curriculum designed to broaden and deepen their learning.

• Bright, average, and slow youngsters profit from grouping programs that adjust the curriculum to the aptitude levels of the groups.

http://cassel34.blogspot.com/2011/05/you-are-more-beautiful-than-12-stones.html http://www.princeton.edu/pr/pwb/05/0516/7a.shtml

Recommendations Continued

• Benefits are slight from programs that group children by ability but prescribe common curricular experiences for all ability groups (Make everyone do the same work even though they are grouped according to ability) . Schools should not expect student achievement to change dramatically with either establishment or elimination of such programs.

http://www.bowdoin.edu/math/student-

projects/images/bowdoin-math-students.jpg

From:

http://www.gifted.uconn.edu/nrcgt/kulik.html

http://www.faqs.org/photo-

dict/phrase/1696/amethyst.html

Roger’s Meta-Analysis

• Analyzed 13 research studies.

• Grouping for enrichment in class or pullout produces substantial gains in academics, creativity, and thinking skills.

• Reasons for high achievement of gifted students:

– High ability

– Interested teachers

– Learning with other interested, high-ability learners.

http://www.koko.org/help/images/au

_090312_p5.jpghttp://www.umanitoba.ca/geoscience/faculty/arc/amethyst.html

How is Self-Esteem Affected?

• Stigma Theory: Grouping causes slow-track students to label themselves as “Dummies” and lower their self-expectations.

• However, self-concepts are also shaped by successes and failures when interacting with other students.

• In mixed-ability classes, less able students observe others learning faster and themselves as the last to understand.

• Research shows such day after day comparisons hurt self-concepts.

http://images01.tzimg.com/cache/h3w4/500_1190163196_36234787.jpg

http://www.shopgemstones.com/amethyst.html

How is Self-Esteem Affected?

• On the other hand, gifted students grouped with other gifted students often realize that they are not the only students of high ability and become more humble.

http://www.aiaa.org.au/news/news16/yanim.jpghttp://www.jewelleryxy.com/amethyst-crystal.html

Improving Self-Concepts

• Low- and medium-ability students experience higher self-esteem when grouped with same-ability students.

• Blossoming Effect: some average and low-ability students feel more motivated when higher ability students leave for same-ability classes.

• “When Bill (the gifted student) went out to work with the other gifted kids, the rest of us were like the moon and the stars – that’s when we really got a chance to shine.”

http://www.justgemstones.com/natural_amethyst.html

Cooperative Learning

http://www.criticalthinkinginternational.org/archives/2005/06/cti_in_tanzania.html

http://www.briolettes.com/b_

articles.htm

Cooperative Learning

• Students working together and helping each other learn, typically in groups of two to four.

• Often groups have a mixture of ability levels.

• Often 2 average, one high-ability, and one student with a learning disability or mental retardation.

http://www.jewelinfo4u.com/Amethyst_The_February_Birthstone.aspxhttp://www.anitaoaksschool.com/elementary.htm

Benefits of Cooperative Learning

• Motivation and achievement are higher for most students.

• Group discussions promote cognitive growth and thinking skills.

– Examining the ideas of others;

– Avoiding hasty decisions;

– Viewing situations in new ways.

Group interaction helps children construct knowledge.

http://www.tesionline.com/intl/img/focus/cooperative_learning.jpghttp://crystal-cure.com/amethyst-slab.html

More Benefits

• Students learn to communicate clearly, check for understanding, resolve conflict.

• Self-confidence and self-esteem improve.

http://www.happygreentea.org/cooperativeLearning1.jpg

http://crystal-cure.com/amethyst-cathedral.html

More Benefits

• Social and teamwork skills improve, including those of mainstreamed students.

• Classroom climate improves; decrease in classroom management problems.

• Widespread use of cooperative learning.

http://www.nhacapulco.com/Quickstart/ImageLib/group_homework.jpg

http://crystal-cure.com/amethyst-cathedral.html

Hampering Gifted Students

• Gifted students often prefer to work alone because they learn faster that way.

• Often gifted students must assume the role of junior teacher.

http://studentweb.providence.edu/~pso/tutor.jpg http://crystal-cure.com/amethyst-cathedral.html

Hampering Gifted Students

• They may get stuck doing most of the work for the group.

• They miss opportunities for accelerated or enriched work that matches their abilities.

• They lose academic interest and motivation.

http://www.gotutor.org/images/tutor_pg1a.jpghttp://crystal-cure.com/amethyst.html

Motivation & Engagement in Cooperative Groups

• Three common problems of gifted students in Cooperative groups

• Social loafing

• Free-rider

• Sucker effect

http://www8.relevanttools.com/eis_images/9248/Student-toStudentTutoring_cw.jpg

http://helpfulfengshuitips.wordpress.com/page/2/

Social Loafing

• Passive and less capable students let the bright kids do the work.

• They then share in a nice group grade.

• The larger the group, the more individuals are willing to let others do the work or assume responsibility.

• Dyads of two students produce greater learning than larger groups.

http://web.njcu.edu/dept/osp/content/tutoring.asp

http://www.healing-crystals-for-you.com/dumortierite.html

Free Rider

• A group member does not contribute unless there is a need to do so.

• Occurs when there is a group grade.

– If graded on highest performance, the high-ability students work harder.

– If graded on lowest performance, the low-ability students work harder.

http://www.bioteams.com/2007/02/13/freeriding_in_teams.html

http://silverbirch-moondancer.blogspot.com/

Sucker Effect

• Higher achievers tire of being taken advantage of and they quit working.

• They want to avoid being played for a sucker.

• College students prefer to fail than to carry a free rider.

http://www.howies.co.uk/images/cms/blog/rebholzpics029.jpg

http://www.polyvore.com/all_things_purple_lt/collection?id=501862

Sucker Effect

• Gifted student performance can be very low, especially if:

– The student can’t motivate others to help;

– The student can’t switch to another group.

http://blog.nj.com/hudsoncountynow_impact/2009/01/large_bayonne-high-school-teacher-inauguation.jpg

http://www.etsy.com/listing/26658247/purple-lollipop-hair-clip

Helps for Gifted Learners

• High-ability students are more productive when grouped with other high-ability students.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_rOqL_PwNKkU/SSoEu0fyVRI/AAAAAAAAARU/cb7

RlwsqfkA/s400/High+School+Musical+3.jpg

http://allencentre.wikispaces.com/Junior+Science+-+Crystals

Helps for Gifted Learners

• In groups with medium, high, and low ability students, the gifted student usually tutors the lowest ability student and the average students are left out.

• Therefore, mixed grouping works against both high and medium ability students.

http://www.notredamehighschool.org/images/photos/Guidance/IMG_0361_1_CQ77_K3yI.jpg

http://www.bwsmigel.info/Lesson3/DEPhysical.Properties.html

Documents

Ability Grouping and Cooperative Learningalburnetttag.weebly.com › uploads › 4 › 2 › 5 › 4 › 42540285 › m... · • Stigma Theory: Grouping causes slow-track students