Big Data Seminar 3: How to Group Students to Raise Learning: Mix by SES, Achievement & Attitude

11:00 - 12:00, 29 June 2017

Taipo Campus: D2-LP-10

Speaker: Professor Ming Ming Chiu

Grouping students by similar past achievement (banding, tracking), socio-economic status (SES) (economic segregation) or reading attitude can affect their reading achievement. Multilevel analyses of 208,057 fourth grade students in 40 countries showed that greater school banding showed higher reading achievement, suggesting customized instruction. Meanwhile, students had higher reading achievement with greater differences (variances) among classmates’ past achievement, family SES, or reading attitudes –suggesting more help opportunities (higher achievers help lower achievers, so that both learn) and learning from diversity. When classmates had more resources (SES, attitude, achievement), a student had higher reading scores (suggesting sharing and helping). Using these results, educators can assign students and resources into different course sections at little cost to improve their reading achievement.