Students learn more when they're grouped by reading level -- and teachers are happier
- Joanne Jacobs
- Jun 19
- 2 min read
Grouping students by reading ability -- not age or grade level -- and using a research-based program has been a game-changer at her Rockford, Illinois elementary school, writes Jessica Berg, a teacher coach. "Teachers are happier." They can focus on "skills that every student in the room is ready for," instead of watering-down instruction to reach the slowest students. Students are "more confident, more engaged, and more successful."
K-2 students are assessed to create skill-based groups, writes Berg. "We have 5-year-olds and 7-year-olds learning side by side, because that’s where they are in their reading journey."
Every morning, for 45 minutes, all K-2 students -- in their groups -- are taught using Reading Horizons. General education teachers and interventionists lead the 14 small groups. Teaching ranges "from letters and sounds coupled with phonemic awareness (more foundational), all the way to multisyllabic decoding and comprehension strategies (more advanced)," she writes.
We don’t move on if a group isn’t showing mastery. We pause. We support. And sometimes, we shift students into a group that’s a better fit.
Test scores are up significantly, and the number of students labeled "at-risk" is way down, Berg writes. "In one class, 72% of students who began the year labeled 'at-risk' have reached or exceeded the end-of-year proficiency benchmark."
She advises schools to assess and regroup frequently. "Let the data guide you."
Some schools take a more conservative approach, creating reading groups in at the same age level, Berg writes. For example, some first graders will work on the basics while others move more quickly. Students "shuffle" from their classroom for reading, then return to the mixed-ability class.
APM's Sold a Story explains how grouping students by skills has raised elementary reading scores in Steubenville, Ohio, which has used Success for All for many years.
When I visited Success for All schools in San Jose, teachers and principals at three different schools said that behavior had improved when they switched to reading groups. Students had been disrupting class to prevent ever having to read aloud, they said. They were embarrassed and frustrated.
Tracking can only survive if administrators are willing to accept that the lowest ability group will be full of black, Hispanic, and poor white males. Administrators also have to resist parental pressure to move their children into higher groups.
Chubb and Moe, Politics, Markets, & America's Schools found that tracking (by which I suspect they meant ability grouping) was positively correlated with school success, as measured by school-level 10th to 12th grade mean test score gains on standardized rests of Reading, Science, and Math*.
*Chubb and Moe did use standardized tests of Social Studies because Social Studies test scores did not correlate with anything, which is very funny if you know basic Statistics.