Organizational Constraints and Individual Mobility: Ability Group Formation and Maintenance

Abstract

While assignment to ability groups and curriculum tracks is ostensibly based on students' aptitude for learning, previous research has found that student aptitude explains only a small portion of the variance in curriculum placement. Likewise, while ability grouping has been described as very flexible, studies have found that little movement between groups actually occurs. This study examines ability grouping in a first-grade classroom in order to increase our understanding of the factors which influence ability group formation and maintenance.This investigation found that time and management constraints influenced the number and size of groups formed, independently of the range of aptitude in the classroom. Since these factors remained constant throughout the year, they also limited the amount of movement that occurred between groups.When across-classroom grouping is used, other, more stringent constraints are likely to affect allocation decisions. It will be argued that these constraints represent a problem which exists whenever there is an attempt to match individuals with positions in society.