Development of and Reasons for Vocational Choices of Adolescents through the High-School Years

Abstract

To determine whether ability grouping or random grouping is the most effective in producing academic achievement in mathematics, 204 enlisted airmen at the USAF Academy Preparatory School were divided into two equivalent subgroups. Each subgroup was sectioned randomly for one mathematics sequence and according to ability for a second. Subgroup grade averages were compared using the two-tailed t-test. For a standard curriculum, the randomly sectioned group surpassed the ability sectioned group (5 percent level); and for the sequence with differentiation by acceleration, the ability sectioned group surpassed the randomly sectioned group (0.1 percent level). This indicates that it is not so much the method of grouping but rather what is done for a given group that affects achievement.