[Ohiogift] New grouping study

[Margaret DeLacy]

Can Tracking Raise the Test Scores of High-Ability Minority Students?
David Card and Laura Giuliano, American Economic Review vol. 106, no. 10, October 2016, (pp. 2783-2816)
 
Abstract
We evaluate a tracking program in a large urban district where schools with at least one gifted fourth grader create a separate "gifted/high achiever" classroom. Most seats are filled by non-gifted high achievers, ranked by previous-year test scores. We study the program's effects on the high achievers using (i) a rank-based regression discontinuity design, and (ii) a between-school/cohort analysis. We find significant effects that are concentrated among black and Hispanic participants. Minorities gain 0.5 standard deviation units in fourth-grade reading and math scores, with persistent gains through sixth grade. We find no evidence of negative or positive spillovers on nonparticipants. 

Citation
Card, David and Laura Giuliano. 2016. "Can Tracking Raise the Test Scores of High-Ability Minority Students?" American Economic Review, 106(10): 2783-2816. DOI: 10.1257/aer.20150484 

from the paper:

"While an important limitation of our analysis is that it pertains to only a single school district,  nevertheless  the student population in the District is highly diverse and 
arguably representative of the student population in many other large urban districts. 
Overall, our results suggest that a comprehensive tracking program that establishes a separate classroom in every school for the top-performing students has the potential to
significantly boost the performance of minority students – even in the poorest neighborhoods of a large urban school district.  Given the high degree of economic and racial segregation
 in many urban districts, such a program could effectively serve large numbers of high achieving and minority students, and it could do so at little or no cost 
to other students or school district budgets.

 Margaret comments:

The study was in a single district but covered students entering 4th. grade in 140 different large elementary schools (must have been huge district!)

Remarkably, the g/t classrooms used the same curriculum and the same achievement standards as all other classrooms (NOT a gifted "best practice").  I was not surprised that many of the students showed little effect.  We have decades of studies showing that the point of ability grouping is to enable g/t students to receive higher-level curriculum and instruction and that gains are minimal when this isn't provided.  However, despite this, the authors still found that there were significant benefits for the minority students in the program and no corresponding losses for students not in the program. In other words, it is possible that "detracking" has been counterproductive--imposing the greatest costs on gifted/high-achieving minority students.  However, this is just one study and would need to be confirmed by additional work. 
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