Literacy Grouping Formats
Interest-based Groups Versus Ability-based Groups
Rationale/Goals
The purpose for this study is to determine if students are more engaged in reading when they are placed in interest-based groups rather than ability-based groups. Many schools are solely grouping students based on their reading achievement and not experimenting with more mixed-ability groupings, such as interest-based groups. My hope is that this research study will give the students more of a voice on their views/feelings about groups they are placed in throughout the school day and what changes can we make to better understand and support students when it comes to daily grouping patterns.
What does the current research say?
There is an abundance of research on using a small group format and on using ability-based reading groups. (Check out research done by Elbaum & Moody, Elbaum & Vaughn, Wilkinson & Fung). However there is limited research on the use of small heterogeneous groups that are created on interests rather than ability. Therefore, I concluded that more research needs to be done on a different grouping format and created this research proposal focused on student engagement in interest-based reading groups versus ability-based reading groups.
Here's How The Study Would Work
Location
Enders-Salk Elementary School in Schaumburg, IL. It will include 4 fourth-grade classrooms. Two of the classrooms are Spanish/English dual language. The other two are strictly English classes. Sample size is 83 students.
Methods
Comparative study of the two classrooms experiences in ability-based groups versus interest-based groups. Each of the four classes will spend 1 semester experiencing groups created based on ability (Fountas & Pinnell) and 1 semester in groups created based on interest.
Data Collection
Data will be collected through the use of surveys on Survey Monkey (1 in the beginning of the semester and one post semester). Researchers will also be collecting time-on-task data three times in each semester during ability-grouping and interest-grouping literacy times. Results will be compared and graphed to look for trends and patterns between engagement in the two grouping formats.