Maths Grouping Elevates High Achievers, Study Shows

A study by University College London’s Institute of Education, supported by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF), has found that teaching mathematics in ability-grouped classes in English secondary schools can improve progress for high-achieving pupils without causing significant harm to lower-attaining students.

The research adds new evidence to a long-running debate in England over whether pupils should be taught in mixed-attainment classes or separated into groups based on prior performance. The study focused on state schools and examined outcomes for pupils in Year 7 and Year 8, aged 11 to 13.

UCL and EEF study compares mixed-attainment and grouped classes

Researchers analysed data from 28 mixed-ability schools and 69 schools that used ability grouping for mathematics. The comparison was designed to test whether grouping by attainment changes how much progress pupils make during early secondary school.

According to the findings, pupils in England who entered secondary school with strong prior performance in maths made, on average, two months’ less progress when taught in mixed-attainment classes than similar pupils taught in ability-grouped settings.

Impact on lower attainers and disadvantaged pupils

A central concern in the debate has been whether ability grouping damages the attainment or confidence of pupils who start with lower prior attainment, including those from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds. The study reported that ability grouping did not significantly harm attainment or self-confidence for low-prior-attaining pupils or disadvantaged pupils.

The researchers said this result runs counter to earlier worries that grouping could reduce confidence among pupils placed in lower groups. In this analysis, the expected negative effect on self-confidence was not found at a significant level.

Overall progress and the attainment-gap question

Across all pupils, schools using mixed-ability classes showed one month’s less progress overall. The study also addressed how grouping relates to the attainment gap between the highest and lowest performers.

It found that mixed-ability schools may appear to have a smaller gap between top and bottom performers, but the study suggests this is mainly because high-achieving pupils make less progress in mixed-attainment settings, rather than because lower-achieving pupils make more progress.

What remains uncertain for schools

The findings are specific to mathematics teaching in English secondary state schools and to the Year 7 and Year 8 age range covered in the study. The research does not claim that every approach to grouping will work the same way in every school, and it does not remove the need for schools to consider how grouping is implemented in practice.

Even so, the results indicate that, in this dataset, ability grouping was associated with stronger progress for pupils who started secondary school with higher prior maths attainment, while not showing a significant negative effect on lower-attaining or disadvantaged pupils’ attainment or self-confidence.