Good groups: The search for social equity and instructional excellence through first-grade literacy groupings

Since World War I, ability groups have been the dominant means of arranging children for reading instruction in classrooms throughout the United States. However, research supports that grouping by ability has had negative impacts upon curriculum and instruction, particularly for children in low groups. Current literacy reforms advise moving to flexible grouping; the new, "good" groups are those that change in membership and allow children of different abilities to work together to meet a variety of goals in reading, writing, speaking, and listening.

This study fills a gap for knowledge of instruction in the new arrangements. The following questions have guided this study: (a) When teachers choose not to do traditional ability grouping, what types of groups do they select? (b) What sorts of academic progress are being made? (c) What are the dynamics of the new literacy groups? (e) What makes groups "good"?

The author conducted a dialogic, ethnographic inquiry as a first-semester participant observer in six first grade classrooms from six different schools that serve varied cultural and socio-economic populations within three counties. Analysis of fieldnotes, snapshots, audiotapes, and videotapes reveal a wide variety in ways teachers design group structures and activities, and in how they evaluate their effectiveness. Thirty-one specific group types were used; only four categories of groups were common to all classrooms: whole-class; adult/student one-to-one; student partners; and independent work.

Children's progress is enhanced when they reach six goals for literacy instruction. Effective groups are many, but they don't dwell upon development of skills in heterogeneous contexts. New literacy groups avoid problems once presented by low and high reading groups; most afford advantages that were once only available in high groups. Truly good groups go beyond that. They take multiple forms within a single classroom and strive to meet multiple goals across time. Perhaps most importantly, they provide for the complex socio-psychological needs of children.