How Academically Diverse Is the "Grade-Level" Classroom?

• In Event: Who Gets to Learn? Student Achievement and Academic Growth

Abstract

The range of academic readiness in American K-12 schools is vast (Firmender et al., 2013; Peters et al., 2017). Because of the weight given to grade-level standards and high-stakes assessments, teachers are incentivized to adopt one-size-fits-all curricula (Rubenstein et al., 2015; Moon et al., 2003) and are then expected to address the needs of all students. As a result, the instructional needs of potentially millions of students may be neglected (Peters et al., 2017). Although some studies provide hints about the range of academic readiness in classrooms, there is a need to better understand the typical level of instructional range in a more generalizable way. We hypothesize this range is quite large, exceeding five or more grade-level equivalents in any given grade in both mathematics and reading. If this general hypothesis is supported, the current educational system— which largely serves students based on age— is unlikely to meet the needs of many students.
The diversity in academic readiness is apparent as early as kindergarten and grows over time (von Hipple & Hamrock, 2019), suggesting both the home and school environments are important to consider. Consequently, the range of academic abilities within classrooms is assumed to be large and increasing (Gottfried, 2016; Tomlinson et al., 2003). However, few studies directly address the broad diversity of academic ability present within classrooms. Firmender et al., (2013) found five or more grade-levels of reading readiness in 65% of 20 sampled grade 5 classes. Evidence also suggests that competencies in mathematics are wide-ranging within classrooms as well (Huang, 2009).
The current study examines data from three large school districts from three different areas of the US. The de-identified student NWEA MAP ® data includes reliable teacher indicators and the assessment is a computer adaptive scale-score assessment which has a low floor and a high ceiling, which enables classroom level variability to be established. Our hypotheses are:
1) Five or more instructional grade levels are present in at least 60% of examined classrooms.
2) The number of instructional grade levels needed in classrooms will increase as grade levels increase.
3) The number of instructional grade levels needed in reading will exceed the number in mathematics.
Our initial results from a different national dataset that examined fifth grade level, not classroom level, variability showed 33% of schools needed at least 7 levels of instruction needed in mathematics (Figure 1) and 73% of schools needed at least 7 levels of instruction in reading (Figure 2). Ironically, 73% of schools also needed at least 5 levels of instruction in mathematics. Grade level was determined using the same method used by Peters et al. (2018) where NWEA MAP scores were compared to their corresponding predicted Smarter Balanced scores, which were then categorized by grade level proficient scores. This paper is in preparation for a stage 1 registered report.

**Figures included in overall session upload.

Authors

• Karen E. Rambo-Hernandez, Texas A&M University - College Station

• Scott Joseph Peters, University of Wisconsin - Whitewater

• Jonathan A. Plucker, Johns Hopkins University

• Matthew C. Makel, Johns Hopkins University

• Blaine Pedersen, Texas A&M University - College Station