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The effects of within-class grouping on student achievement and other outcomes were quantitatively integrated using two sets of study findings. The first set included 145 effect sizes and explored the effects of grouping versus no grouping on several outcomes. Overall, the average achievement effect size was +0.17, favoring small-group learning. The second set included 20 effect sizes which directly compared the achievement effects of homogeneous versus heterogeneous ability grouping. Overall, the results favored homogeneous grouping; the average effect size was +0.12. The variability in both sets of study findings was heterogeneous, and the effects were explored further. To be maximally effective, within-class grouping practices require the adaptation of instruction methods and materials for small-group learning.
Contemporary classrooms are notable for the number and diversity of students who occupy them. Economic pressures in many regions have resulted in increased class sizes. Detracking or destreaming, the mainstreaming of students with special needs, and the reduction of special programs for gifted students make it likely that teachers face students who have a broad spectrum of needs, abilities, goals, and interests and who may differ along racial, ethnic, linguistic, and economic lines. The mosaic of students who populate classrooms means that teachers face difficult pedagogical decisions if students are to learn effectively and enjoyably. One decision concerns whether to group students for instruction within class and teach them accordingly.
The term small-group instruction has different meanings. In the loosest sense it means the physical placement of students into groups for the purposes of learning. Gamoran (1987) refers to this placement as the organizational structure of the classroom. In the strictest sense, however, small-group instruction means the use of specific instructional strategies when students are placed together to learn. Gamoran refers to this as the instructional processes occurring within classes and groups. In this article we will use the term small-group instruction in the loosest sense and interchangeably with within-class grouping and intraclass grouping, although we also attempt to explore the influence of instructional strategies on small groups.
The effects of within-class grouping have been the focus of educational research for some time. However, individual study findings appear quite varied and therefore call for a careful and systematic review. Previous meta-analyses (Kulik & Kulik, 1987, 1991; Slavin, 1987)1 explored...