The Effect of Homogeneous Ability Grouping in Math Class on Student Achievement and Attitudes about Math

The Effect of Homogeneous Ability Grouping in Math Class on Student Achievement and Attitudes about Math
Author: Kristina Lynn Davis
Publisher:
Total Pages: 74
Release: 2012
Genre: Ability grouping in education
ISBN:
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In this investigation the students in fifth through eighth grades were placed in math classes based on their ability (homogenous grouping). MAP math test scores and teacher input were used to group the students by their ability. This treatment was implemented to see if there was a change in student achievement and to see if there were any student attitude changes about math. The post-treatment results indicated that students MAP test scores varied greatly for each individual but 82% of students increased their scores from the pre to post-treatment. The results indicated that the percent increase in MAP test scores were the highest during the pretreatment. The above grade level students had a 6.5% increase, at grade level had a 5.5% increase, and the below grade level had a 6.8% increase in their MAP test scores. During the post-treatment the group of students that were most affected by the ability grouping were the above grade level students. They had a 4.2% increase in their MAP test scores during the treatment year. The students that were at grade level had a 2.3% increase in their MAP test scores. The students that were negatively affected by the ability grouping were the below grade level students. They increased their scores by .3% in the treatment year. AIMSweb Concepts and Applications increased following the treatment from 8.1% to a 16% increase in the test scores. AIMSweb Computation scores decreased in overall percent gains from a 17.7% to an 11.1% following the treatment. Students' attitudes about math were more positive after the treatment but the students said that there was little benefit to their science class when they were in ability groped math class.

The Effects of Within-Class Ability Grouping on Primary Students' Academic Achievement

The Effects of Within-Class Ability Grouping on Primary Students' Academic Achievement
Author: Hiu-Wing Michelle Wu
Publisher: Open Dissertation Press
Total Pages:
Release: 2017-01-26
Genre:
ISBN: 9781361029046
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This dissertation, "The Effects of Within-class Ability Grouping on Primary Students' Academic Achievement" by Hiu-wing, Michelle, Wu, 胡曉穎, was obtained from The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong) and is being sold pursuant to Creative Commons: Attribution 3.0 Hong Kong License. The content of this dissertation has not been altered in any way. We have altered the formatting in order to facilitate the ease of printing and reading of the dissertation. All rights not granted by the above license are retained by the author. Abstract: Ability grouping has been highly debated in the educational field for years. This study aimed to test the effect of ability grouping on Hong Kong children. A between-subjects design was used to investigate whether students' achievement in English would be affected by the practice of ability grouping 102 Hong Kong primary school children studying in Primary One took part in the investigation. All participants first undertook a pre-test that determined their ability level- high, average or low. 51 Students were then grouped homogeneously (HM) according to ability level while students from another 51 students were grouped in heterogeneous (HT) ability setting. After attending two English lessons on the topic of singular/plural noun, students completed the post-test and a survey on ability grouping. It was hypothesised that ability grouping would have positive effect on average and high ability students while low ability students would benefit more from heterogeneous grouping. The not significant effect between HM and HT groups, F(1,96)=0.210, p=0.648, and between the ability levels between two groupings, F(2,96)=0.020, p=0.980, found in this study failed to support the research hypotheses. The findings tended to support the work of Oakes (1985, 1995, 2005), Oakes and Lipton (1990) and Slavin (1987). Yet, it was suggested that no conclusion on the effectiveness of grouping on student learning could be reached. Further implications and recommendations were included in this research. Subjects: English language - Study and teaching (Primary) - China - Hong Kong Ability grouping in education - China - Hong Kong Academic achievement - China - Hong Kong - Psychological aspects