Ability Grouping

I have been working on a paper for my Literacies in Today’s World class and I came across some interesting research. My topic was on ability grouping in the classroom. This is a popular method used in many classrooms. Ability grouping is basically self explanatory but for those who don’t know ability grouping is the placement of children in a classroom put into groups based on their abilities. These student can move from group to group when needed. I am especially passionate about this subject because I remember being in grade school and witnessing this method in my classrooms. I remember the first grade my teacher made four groups in the classroom. She named these groups the “Blue Jays” and the “sparrows” and so on. Even in the first grade we knew who was in the fast group and those who were in the slower reading groups. However I do think that it is very important to have students work in groups but these groups should be mixed ability. Ability grouping can be damaging to a young students self confidence and may have an effect on their future learning. I feel there is no room for improvement when students are limited to learning with students of the same ability because much of what we learn in school is from our peers. If a teacher groups low ability students together than he/she is setting low expectations for them. I just don’t think it is appropriate!! What do you all think???