The Student Grouping Study. Evaluation report

The project<br/>The Student Grouping Study aimed to compare directly the impact of being taught mathematics in mixed attainment groups or in attainment sets on mathematics attainment and self-confidence, for Year 7 and Year 8 students (age 11–13). Of particular interest were outcomes for disadvantaged students, and outcomes for students with low-prior attainment. This was a naturalistic quasi-experimental study that investigated the effects of setting by attainment and mixed attainment grouping in mathematics, comparing schools with established grouping practices. The evaluation used a matched design, meaning that two groups of schools were deliberately made as similar as possible on a broad range of observable characteristics before comparing the outcomes. Schools were recruited on the basis of their usual practices in grouping for mathematics teaching. 28 mixed attainment schools were recruited, followed by 69 matched schools that used setting by attainment. The study took place between September 2022 and July 2024. There were significant delays in accessing data from the National Pupil Database, which meant this report is published later than anticipated. The implementation and process evaluation (IPE) consisted of surveys in all participating schools, of heads of mathematics, mathematics teachers, school leaders, and students. Additionally, 12 schools were randomly selected for in-depth qualitative case studies.