When classes are sorted by skill level, low-skilled students are at higher risk of being in disruptive classrooms, weakening their instructional environment¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · causal r? · q2
Currency · newest study 2014 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Sorting by skill level places low-skilled students at higher risk of disruptive classrooms, so students with low entering skills may experience a weaker instructional environment. → Elaine Allensworth and Takako Nomi 2014

Evidence¶

Elaine Allensworth and Takako Nomi 2014¶

Elaine Allensworth and Takako Nomi. (2014). Skill-Based Sorting in the Era of College Prep for All. University of Chicago Consortium on Chicago School Research. https://consortium.uchicago.edu/publications/skill-based-sorting-era-college-prep-all-costs-and-benefits

q2 · i? · causal · r?

The report examines classroom environments under sorted versus de-sorted conditions in Chicago algebra classes, finding "low-skilled students are at higher risk of being in disruptive classrooms" under sorting. The release prints no effect size for this finding.

"When classes are sorted by skill level, low-skilled students are at higher risk of being in disruptive classrooms. Thus, sorting can lead students with low entering skills to have a weaker instructional environment."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Between- or within-class homogeneous ability grouping has a small negative effect on low-ability primary students but no effect on other students — the general claim this finding bears on, with the studies behind it
• How students are sorted into classrooms by skill level can affect their achievement as much as the content they are taught — related
• Algebra failure rates rose post-policy for above-norm students (~3 percentage points) but fell for below-norm students (~4 points); classroom environment and peer ability explained most of the above-norm rise but not the below-norm fall — related
• Average test scores are higher when classes are sorted by skill, driven by large learning gains for high-skilled students and slightly lower scores for low-skilled students — related
• Fish pond effects: above-norm students became more likely to fail algebra when their skills were low relative to classroom peers after sorting — related