Although Simon Veenman's (1995) synthesis of research on multigrade and multi-age classes contributes important definitions and findings to the literature, his assessment of the effects of multigrade classes-the more common of these classroom structures-ignores two key factors: (a) selection bias and (b) lower-quality instruction. The omission of these two key factors and Veenman 's implicit advocacy of multi-age classes and cross-grade grouping render his no-difference conclusion problematic. In this article, we critique Veenman's conclusion and explanations, and argue that selection bias and lower-quality instruction should be included as part of the explanation for his no-difference finding. We conclude that multigrade classes have at least a small negative effect on achievement as well as potentially negative effects on teacher motivation. We suggest that researchers examine more carefully the conditions under which student achievement and affect may be fostered in this classroom structure.Our first glimpse of Simon Veenman's (1995) review of the cognitive and noncognitive effects of multigrade classes was, to put it mildly, troubling. We had just placed the final touches on our own review of this literature-an effort spanning 3 years (Mason & Burns, in press; see also Mason & Burns, 1994)-and, to borrow a term from journalism, we felt "scooped." Reminding ourselves that Veenman had examined this organizational structure for more than 10 years, and settling down for a read, we were impressed by his extensive collection of international studies, his convincing argument about the prevalence and importance of multigrade classes, and his finding of few differences between multigrade and single-grade classes, a finding that paralleled our own investigation. As we continued to read, however, our concern returned in another form. We discovered We thank Loes Knutson and Julie Mason, from the Information, Dissemination, Exchange, and Access Service at the University of California, Riverside, for their assistance with electronic searches and retrieval of documents pertaining to this work.
Principals and teachers sometimes intentionally use class formation procedures to create class compositions. This study examined the class distributional properties of 200 elementary school classes in two school districts. Fifty-six classes were combination classes—classes with students from two grade levels. The two districts differed in their policies toward gifted and talented classes and in principals’ preferences for heterogeneous student assignment. Students completed pretest measures of ability and independence and posttest measures of achievement. Hierarchical linear modeling procedures were used to estimate composition effects. The major findings were that (a) principals and teachers assigned higher ability and more independent students to combination classes; (b) these purposeful assignment procedures affected the class distributional properties and how achievement variation was allocated within and between classes; and (c) composition effects were observed for both ability and independence in the district with a commitment to gifted and talented classes, and these composition effects were strongest in combination classes. It is argued that evidence on both student assignment rules and substantive mechanisms for compositional effects are needed to properly interpret regression coefficients relating outcome to pretest in classroom studies.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.