Eliminating Grade Levels in Favor of Ability-based Education

  

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What if school no longer meant sitting in grade-level classrooms, but instead learning with peers of a comparable ability level (regardless of age)? A recent article from the Associated Press reports that several elementary schools in Kansas City will be adopting this type of system, and schools in Denver and Maine have already implemented such a program. Not all students of the same age are able to master concepts at the same time, so eliminating grades allows students to move through the curriculum at their own pace. Teachers can check in and decide what individual students are ready to learn and then place them into small groups by ability level.

This flexible program ensures that students are constantly encountering material that is manageable for them. Even within a classroom, small groups of students can be working on similar topics with activities tailored to the appropriate ability level. High-achieving, motivated students will be able to complete college coursework if they finish the high school material early. Struggling students, on the other hand, can spend an extra year in high school if necessary.

The idea of teaching based on ability is reminiscent of many of the new differentiated instruction and Response to Intervention programs being used in math classrooms. Our Scholastic Math Inventory program, for example, is a fast and accurate computer adaptive assessment based on the Quantile Framework that tests students’ knowledge by adjusting to student performance. Students can then be taught at the level dictated by their math achievement.

With the growing use of online tutors and personalized practice that cater to each child’s needs, students are saved the frustration of falling behind because they lack the essential math skills necessary to move forward. Instead, they learn concepts they are ready to tackle, thereby increasing engagement and motivation. Could grades be a convention of the past and could ability-based instruction be the new frontier of education?

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