Education Insights • 2024 • Volume 2 • Issue 1 6 Effective practice of grouping based on ability is flexible with appropriate curricular adjustments. Even though flexibility is a component in ability grouping systems, appropriate strategies must be implemented to produce growth.28 Research findings gleaned at the elementary and secondary levels concur that grouping practices that do not complement differentiated curriculum will have only a modest effect on achievement.29 Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences Theory Given the effects of the instruction and the method in which it is presented on student knowledge and progression, it is vital to consider the assessments used to place students into accurate ability groups.30 Gardner, a psychologist and professor of education at Harvard University, suggested that IQ tests are limited and do not allow for an accurate test of the wide range of abilities that people often exhibit.31 Students possess different levels of motivation, attitudes about learning, and unique responses to classroom environments and instructional practices.32 Due to the impact of inaccurate placement on student’s academic achievement, it is important that structured grouping systems consider multiple aspects.33 Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences Theory addresses ways the brain processes information, using multiple ways of thinking, solving problems, and learning.34 This theory suggests that there is not one measure of intelligence or one method of teaching. Therefore, simply placing students, without adapting instruction and content to fit their needs, is not enough to increase achievement. Sahatsatatsana and Siriyothin conducted a study on the effectiveness of teaching with respect to multiple intelligences.35 The experimental group was instructed and assessed via a multiple intelligences 28 Junlin Yu, Pia Kreijkes, and Katariina Salmela-Aro, “Students’ Growth Mindset: Relation to Teacher Beliefs, Teaching Practices, and School Climate,” Learning and Instruction 80, August (2022): 1-11, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2022.101616. 29 Kulik and Kulik, “Meta-analytic findings on grouping programs,” 73-77; see also Karen B. Rogers, “Grouping the Gifted and Talented: Questions and Answers,” Roeper Review 16, no. 1 (1993): 8–12; Robert E. Slavin, “Ability Grouping and Student Achievement in Elementary Schools: A Best-Evidence Synthesis,” Review of Educational Research 57, no. 3 (1987): 293–336. 30 Ireson and Hallam, Ability Grouping in Education. 31Armstrong, Thomas. You're Smarter Than You Think: A Kid's Guide to Multiple Intelligences. Minneapolis, MN: Free Spirit Publishing, 2014. 32 Felder, Richard M., and Rebecca Brent. “Understanding Student Differences.” Journal of Engineering Education 94, no. 1 (2005): 57–72. 33 Harlen and Malcom, "Setting and Streaming," Sukhnandan and Lee, Streaming, Setting and Ability Grouping; Ireson and Hallam, Ability Grouping in Education; Susan Hallam, “Ability Grouping in Schools: A Literature Review,” Institute of Education. University of London (2002): 79. 34 Sattra Sahatsatatsana and Peeresak Siriyothin, “The Improvement of Students' English Proficiency and Intelligences through Multiple Intelligence Integrated Syllabus,” Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, 2010, 58–62. 35 Sahatsatatsana and Siriyothin, “The improvement of students’ English proficiency,” 58-62.
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