Working for Equity in Heterogeneous Classrooms

This volume provides the theory and research on which Elizabeth Cohen’s Designing Groupwork, now a classic resource in curriculum, was based. Working for Equity in Heterogeneous Classrooms documents, with systematic data collection and analysis, how it is possible to abolish ability grouping without sacrificing the intellectual challenge of the curriculum. This unique illustration of the practical application of sociological theory and research strategies shows how they can be utilized in reconstructing classrooms to simultaneously achieve goals of equity and development of higher order thinking. The innovation of this approach, Complex Instruction (CI), has a systematic knowledge base that permits examination of implementation, staff development, equal-status interaction, and outcomes of achievement and cognitive development. The work of this group of researchers is testimony to the exciting potential that sociological theory and research have for the field of education.

“Seeing to it that students are productive in classrooms is a challenge for any teacher. Add to this the formidable task of affording all students in a classroom an equal opportunity to learn and you have the pivotal practical dilemma that Cohen, Lotan, and their colleagues tackle in the series of studies brought together for the first time in this volume.”
—Gary Natriello, Series Editor

“The authors have gone to great lengths to evaluate the method and a number of related points in a rigorous way, avoiding claims of success unless they can back them up with empirically tested results. In that way, this book differs from many others in curriculum and instruction where claims are made for one method or other without firm research support. I think it succeeds in being a very persuasive document.”
—Elizabeth Useem, Director of Research and Evaluation, Philadelphia Education Fund