Separating Students by Ability Does Little to Close Educational Gaps
A large Swedish study tracking 79,000 students found that sorting pupils into ability-grouped schools had minimal impact on grades or college attendance. The findings challenge both critics and defenders of tracking—suggesting policymakers cannot rely on ability grouping alone to address educational inequality.
Originaltitel: Ability Groupings Effects on Grades and the Attainment of Higher Education: A Natural Experiment
<p>To test the effect of ability grouping on grades and the attainment of higher education, this study examines a naturally occurring experimentan admission reform that dramatically increased ability sorting between schools in the municipality of Stockholm. Following six cohorts of students (N= 79,020) from the age of 16 to 26, I find a mean effect close to zero and small positive and negative differentiating effects on grades. With regard to the attainment of higher education, I find a mean effect close to zero, the achievement group gap was unaffected, the immigrant-native gap increased, and the class background gap decreased. These results are consistent with much previous research that has found small mean effects of ability grouping. They are inconsistent with previous research, however, in that I find ability groupings effects on gaps are rather small and point in different directions.</p>