Does ability grouping increase the academic achievement of gifted students?
Yes. Ability grouping clearly benefits gifted students. Such students have unique characteristics requiring specialized instruction, such as the ability to learn quickly and to deal with abstract concepts at younger-than-usual ages. Given these special needs, perhaps it is not surprising that students who are grouped with other gifted individuals in school learn more in a year than students who have classmates of more varied ability. Should the curriculum vary by ability group? Yes. Although gifted students benefit slightly from ability grouping even when course content is not altered, they gain much more when the curriculum is adjusted to suit their academic needs. For example, many mathematically talented students are ready to learn statistics/probability, geometry, and pre-algebra long before those topics are introduced in school. If the advanced material is presented, gifted students will learn it, thereby boosting their academic achievement. Standardized achievement tests show tha
