Originally Posted by ultramarina
Quote
Sure, there are many complex issues, but the benefits of ability grouping, in terms of optimizing learning, are so huge, that this is what should be done, and there are no grounds for not doing so. Ability grouping is by a huge margin the single most effective way to optimize learning. Nothing else comes close. There is really no alternative.

These are very sweeping statements. If we want to demand backup, where is yours that this is true?

What is there to prove? The only question is, do differences in ability actually exist? Well, of course they do. There's really nothing else to prove. Ability-difference deniers such as
http://www.ascd.org/publications/bo...-Is-and-How-to-Start-Dismantling-It.aspx
use phrases such as "so-called "ability"" (their quotes around "ability").

Natural differences in ability are huge. Students at the 25th percentile should not be in the same class as students at the 75th percentile. The differences in ability are too large to provide suitable education to both ends of that range.