Ability Grouping Essay

Knowledge is the key to achievement and it all starts with schooling. Education is one of the most important things in a person’s life; it is what they make of it. Research has shown that there are different techniques that have helped students learn to their greatest capacities. Ability grouping is one of them and happens mostly with Elementary school pupils. This technique is a system of grouping students through their learning ability level benefitting each child.

Two main types of ability grouping are between-classroom and in-classroom grouping. In-classroom grouping is where teachers group children just in their classroom. For each lesson that they teach the teacher picks three or four students depending on their ability to learn and how

The others who easily catch on can feel held back by those students. Sometimes these students can get very flustered if the other students do not learn the lesson as fast as they do. Grouping these students will let them learn at their own pace and open the child’s mind for more learning. Having fewer kids in these groups will also offer each child more one on one time with the teacher and also help the shy kids to gain enough confidence to speak up and get the help the need. Those other students who already know the material might laugh or get annoyed if another student asks a question that they already know and think the other student should know too. This can be very hurtful to the child asking the question and be conveyed as bullying. Bullying is a very big problem that a lot of schools face. When a child is being bullied learning can be the least of their worries. Ability grouping can help eliminate some of that bullying. By separating these classrooms into smaller groups there is more room for each child to get to know each other and form a bond preventing bullying from

If a child knows that they are a slower learner than others, they might think down about themselves lowering their self-esteem. The lowering of self-esteem in the minor years can cause some long-term damage to a person; making their life more difficult than if they had a high self-esteem. Even if another student finds out that one of their peers is in the lower level ability group they might bully them by calling them vulgar names making it even harder for that student they are bullying to learn. Lowering the pace of learning can also lower the level of motivation the student has for education. Some students will not have the motivation to learn if they do not have to push themselves. If a student is put into the wrong group, how fast or slow the teachers are teaching might irritate them. Another factor that could lessen the greatness of ability grouping is determining what strategies to use when grouping these children. Testing the children on the subject would be a great way to find out what learning level they are on, but not all students test scores will be precisely accurate of what education level they are actually on. Putting each student into the proper group is virtually impossible but with the right technique and enough thought each child can be put in the right group, giving them the chance to broaden their learning