Impacts of Grouping and Time on the Math Learning of Language Minority Kindergartners

• Published in: Educational evaluation and policy analysis Vol. 38; no. 2; pp. 222 - 244
• Main Authors: Garrett, Rachel, Hong, Guanglei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.06.2016; American Educational Research Association
• Subjects: Ability Grouping; Achievement; Disadvantaged; Early Childhood Longitudinal Survey; English (Second Language); English as a second language; Grouping (Instructional Purposes); Instructional Effectiveness; Kindergarten; Kindergarten students; Language Minorities; Mathematics; Minority & ethnic groups; Second Language Learning; Small Group Instruction; Statistical Analysis; Student Evaluation; Teacher Attitudes; Teacher Surveys; Time Management; elementary mathematics; opportunity to learn; ability grouping; English language learners; instructional organization; propensity score
• ISSN: 0162-3737; 1935-1062
• DOI: 10.3102/0162373715611484

Previous research has indicated benefits and potential pitfalls of within-class homogeneous and heterogeneous ability grouping for elementary math learning. However, there has been scant evidence with regard to the impacts of grouping for language minority kindergartners who may experience the small group setting differentially due to their particular needs for math and English language skill development. Analyzing the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten cohort data, we find that heterogeneous grouping or a combination of heterogeneous and homogeneous grouping under relatively adequate time allocation is optimal for enhancing teacher ratings of language minority kindergartners' math performance, while using homogeneous grouping only is detrimental. As hypothesized, suboptimal instructional organization seems to place language minority kindergartners in a vulnerable situation.