Imt Ability Grouping of Gifted Students - Research Paper Example

The evaluation of ability grouping for gifted students combines ability tracking with the program aimed at augmenting the quality of learning (Preckel et al., 2010). Empirical studies conducted to evaluate the efficacy of these differentiated classroom programs on an outcome-based approach reveal that such programs usually improve the outcomes of learning for gifted students (Rogers, 2007). However, at this point, it is important to note that the focus of this paper is to evaluate the effects of this grouping on the social self-concept as academic achievement, an endeavor that no paper has ever focused on before.

Some papers have tackled each of the effects differently, but even so, few have espoused the exact mechanisms through which the grouping of students based on giftedness and ability influences their social self-concept and academic achievement. According to Neihart (2007), “peer ability grouping seems to have positive socio-affective effects for some gifted students, neutral effects for others, and detrimental effects on a few” (p. 334). This grouping of students according to their assessed abilities is also found to have an associated psychosocial cost that impacts negatively the academic self-concept of gifted learners (Goetz et al., 2008). These insights generated in the assessment of the program efficacy, have led researchers to conduct more in-depth and situational studies since academic achievement, is the ultimate goal of the grouping program.

In an ideal ability grouping scenario, both social self-concept and academic achievement in schools should be improved. This study is more preoccupied with evaluating the impact ability grouping has on the academic achievement and social self-concept of gifted students in secondary schools by evaluating the teaching and learning strategies in these institutions through a meta-analytic approach. To achieve this objective, the paper seeks to espouse the specific mechanisms through which ability grouping affects the two constructs.

According to Preckel et al. (2010), boredom is one of the mechanics through which the grouping of differentiated classrooms influences the social self-concept of gifted students and ultimately, their academic achievement (p. 453). The findings as to the mechanics that influence the outcomes of ability grouping of gifted learners have been impinged upon by several intervening factors such as different curricula, different instructors, and enrichment programs that impair the applicability of such study outcomes.

In order to ascertain the effects of such studies, it is important that the gifted students be studied in reference to the non-gifted students after which the results are evaluated. Preckel & Brull (2008) used this approach and realized that the level of achievement of the non-gifted students (reference group) is critical in determining the level of achievement for the gifted students’ class. Moreover, empirical studies have also revealed that when students are placed in the same category as other gifted students, it is more likely to have an upward social comparison, which might work to suppress the academic self-perception of gifted students in secondary schools (Wilson et al., 2014). Essentially, the underlying factors through which ability grouping influences academic achievement and social self-concept are so intricately related that one leads to the other.

This paper undertakes an extensive literature review and uses qualitative meta-analysis to espouse the channels through which the ability grouping of gifted students in secondary schools influences academic achievement and social self-concept. It is because, despite its use for many years, the impacts of ability grouping are still widely debated (Becker et al., 2014).