| "Interaction among students of a variety of ability levels appears to increase achievement." (Slavin, 1987)
What is Flexible Grouping? Simply put, flexible grouping is informally grouping and regrouping students according to a variety of criteria. Flexible grouping can make a teacher's job easier and students more productive.
Teachers who use flexible grouping strategies often employ several organizational patterns for instruction. Students are grouped and regrouped according to specific goals, activities, and individual needs. When making grouping decisions, it's important to take into account the dynamics and advantages inherent in each type of group
Why is Flexible Grouping Important? Research has shown that when reading groups are flexible (able to reconstitute according to teacher's formal and informal assessment findings), they are more likely to foster reading growth.
"Being in a homogenous group sometimes helps high-ability students, but fairly consistently retards the achievement of low-ability students and may impair their social status and self-esteem as well (Good and Marshall, 1984).
"Because students' individual needs change so often, ongoing observation of behavior and assessment of their knowledge and experience are essential to the guided reading process. Students progress at different rates, so regrouping is also ongoing. By grouping in different ways for different purposes, you can avoid labeling students with group names that are symbols of a static achievement level." (Pinnell, 2002).
Fundamentals of Flexible Grouping In a successful guided reading group, students will read with 90% accuracy, using the necessary skills to unlock meaning. Students' knowledge base is the key element to consider when you select texts and plan instruction. Among other factors are:
- how well students can control a given strategy, such as decoding unfamiliar words.
- the diction they understand or can challenge themselves to understand.
- the kinds of texts and genres they have experienced. (For example, if they have handled only narrative texts, then informational texts may be difficult.)
In the flexible grouping model, students should remain in the group
only until the particular text is completed.
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