The first graded school in this country opened in 1848, starting a trend that became firmly entrenched in American educational ideology (Kulik & Kulik, 1982, p. 619). By the turn of the century, critics of age grouping noted that at each age level, the range in student mental age was likely to be as great as the number of their particular grade. Revisionists at this time attempted to accommodate differences among children with ability grouping, a prominent feature of typical classroom teaching and often a focus of controversy and debate (Kulik & Kulik, 1982, p. 619).
According to Winn and Wilson, ability grouping was common in the early 1920s, and its popularity increased with the development of standardized tests of achievement (1983, p. 119). For a period of time in the 1940s and 1950s, ability grouping practices declined, and by 1968 a National Education Association survey revealed that only 18.4 percent of the teachers questioned favored ability grouping as an educational process (Winn & Wilson, 1983, p. 119).
One of the first controlled studies of ability grouping was done in 1929 by T. Luther Purdom. He did not find that ability grouping actually improved children's achievement (Winn & Wilson, 1983, p. 119), and he deplored the fact that grouping decisions were often based on mere teacher impression, a fact that sometimes remains true decades later (Slavin, 1988, p. 68).
Research on grouping practices in the 1920s was partly stimulated by the concern for schools serving a diverse student population, including immigrants and the poor. Some of these same multicultural conditions are present today (Slavin, 1988, p. 68). In a 1973 review of research done between 1960 and 1972, Esposito indicated that attitudes and self-concepts of children of low ability might be impaired by ability grouping (Winn & Wilson, 1983, p. 119).
Oakes and Lipton place the history of ability grouping in a social and economic context....