That, Mehan said, comes down to what public schooling is all about. I believe it has a lot to do with the democratic project of this country, and segregation of ability, which often breaks down in racial and economic lines, runs counter to that project. Better than thou Both sides of the debate cite national research showing that in groups of mixed ability, the high-level students lose a bit of edge over their peers while the students in the lower levels gain tremendously, in part because of the transfer of high expectations, Mehan said. Tom Loveless, director of the Brookings Institution's Brown Center on Educational Policy in Washington, D.C., says the loss outweighs the gain. Kids of privilege get help in lots and lots of ways.
Teachers say mixed grouping appears to help children who are behind.
Students in Kirk's class work cooperatively in groups that include children at all levels. It takes much more planning on my part, but the results are definitely worth it. What keeps the system in place, Mehan and others argue, is class. My child is brighter, he should move ahead. Anderson puts it less diplomatically.