Evidence of a Differential Effect of Ability Grouping on the Reading Achievement Growth of Language-Minority Hispanics

Ability grouping is sometimes thought to exacerbate inequality by increasing achievement gaps; however, ability grouping may in fact benefit a fast growing and often marginalized student population: children from non-English-speaking home environments. The level-appropriate, small-group instruction received in reading ability groups may be particularly beneficial to these language-minority children, who are not regularly exposed to English at home. Focusing on Hispanics, who make up the majority of language-minority students, the author examined this hypothesis through difference-indifferences estimation techniques in a hierarchical linear model framework. Ability grouping in reading during kindergarten was significantly associated with greater benefits for language-minority Hispanic students relative to other students. However, this benefit faded during the summer and first grade, unless grouping continued in first grade. These findings are robust to alternative specifications and suggest that differentiated instructional strategies upon school entry may be an effective, relatively low cost tool to combat the achievement gap faced by a fast growing segment of students. SOCIAL scientists have long tried to explain the causes and correlates of the persistent Black–White and Hispanic–White student achievement gaps. Despite all of the attention paid to these achievement gaps, the difference between language-minority (LM) children and non-LM children has received almost no quantitative analysis. In this article, I (a) document the existence of this gap when children enter formal school and (b) examine whether ability grouping in kindergarten and first grade can serve to diminish it. The term language minority refers to individuals from homes where a language other than English is actively used, who therefore have had an opportunity to develop some level of proficiency in a language other than English. A language minority student may be of limited English proficiency, bilingual , or essentially monolingual in English (August & Hakuta, 1997, p. 16), although for children entering kindergarten, this latter category is likely to be quite small. Not all Hispanic children are LM children; therefore, grouping all Hispanic children together may mask key distinctions in achievement levels and growth trajectories between Hispanic LM children and Hispanic non-LM children. For the purposes of defining a more conceptually unified group, in this article, I restrict the term language minority to include only those children from households in which languages other than for their helpful comments and suggestions. Any remaining error is my own. 142 Robinson English are the primary languages spoken. Children in this category are referenced using the acronym LM/P, where …