Education Endowment Foundation:Student Grouping Study

Student Grouping Study

UCL Institute of Education
Project info

Independent Evaluator

IOE, UCL's Faculty of Education and Society logo
IOE, UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society
The Student Grouping Study will explore the difference in attainment outcomes for pupils taught maths in mixed attainment groups compared to setting.
Pupils: 9000 Schools: 120 Grant: £855,268
Participating settings: 120

The study is a​‘naturalistic experiment’ comparing existing grouping practices in schools rather than implementing a specific programme.

Schools that currently practice mixed attainment grouping in Years 7 and 8 have been recruited to the study. These schools are matched with schools that practice setting by attainment to provide a comparison group of schools. Differences in outcomes for pupils across these two schools will be looked at, including attainment differences and pupil self-confidence.

This project and its evaluation initially started in the academic year of 2019/20 but were affected by the 2020 and 2021 partial school closures caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. During the pandemic, many schools changed their grouping practices and some schools indicated that they no longer had the capacity to take part in the study. The study restarted in the 2022/23 academic year with a different group of schools.

Setting by attainment is practised in England to a varying degree and varies according to subject and year group. However, there is limited up-to-date and UK-based evidence about how this practice is carried out by schools, or how choices about student grouping alters outcomes for pupils.

The project will use a matched design in a naturalistic context to investigate the differences in attainment and self-confidence of pupils taught in mixed attainment groups compared to pupils who are taught in sets. The team at IoE, with oversight from an independent steering group, will be carrying out this research.

The project will look at attainment using a standardised test in maths at the end of Year 8. The research will also look at outcomes for FSM pupils, low-prior attainers and high-prior attainers. The IoE team will also carry out an implementation and process evaluation to understand the diversity of grouping practices within schools. An independent advisory group has been appointed to provide independent scrutiny of the study.

The evaluation report will be published in Spring 2025.