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Many researchers argue that the supposed advantages of ability grouping do not pan out in practice. Robert Slavin, an educational researcher at Johns Hopkins University, has found that high and middle achievers do just as well in "heterogeneous" classrooms as they do in classes populated by kids just like them. And low achievers do better. Says Slavin: "My argument is, Why would you continue grouping students if it doesn't seem to benefit anybody?" One answer: parents of motivated students tend to be pretty motivated and skilled at persuading school boards to sustain classes that provide something special for their children. In an era in which gaining admission to top-shelf high schools and colleges has become a blood sport, self-interest trumps community building most of the time. In Montclair, N.J., lawsuits brought by African-American parents in the late 1980s forced Montclair High School to detrack one course--ninth-grade literature--so that students of all abilities and test scores would sit next to each other and read the same books. School officials say students who previously went unnoticed are flourishing. "Kids have started to find they have a voice in the room," says teacher Dana Sherman. "When you start giving kids a voice, achievement is one of the outcomes." Still, after five years, the program hasn't spread to any other classes in the district. "You know who the parents are who are upset," says Sherman. "It's the parents of the kids who have traditionally been in the high-honors classes. They don't buy it. They think it's a touchy-feely course."
Given the hypercompetitive climate in middle-class schools, it seems unlikely those parents will ever be converted. But average students can still be rescued if policymakers committed to the ideals of public education resist interest-group politics and pressure from powerful parents. Revamping special-education laws, to give school districts more flexibility in distributing resources, would give a boost to woodwork kids. So would offering incentives for schools to minimize ability grouping or bonuses for schools that put top-notch teachers--who generally instruct gifted children--in middle-achieving classrooms. Michigan State's Schmidt says the predicament of America's average students illustrates the need for a set of "national standards that would articulate what all of our kids need to know." But the first step may be even simpler--as simple as challenging average kids as much as we do the brightest students. Just ask Meghan Malone, a high-achieving, freckle-faced Des Moines ninth-grader. "When you expect all kids to be smart," she says, walking out of her honors English class, "they will be." It may not be that easy, but it would be a start.
--With reporting by Sally B. Donnelly/ Knoxville and Aisha Labi/Buffalo