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Visible Learning™
Visible Learning MetaX™
Version 1.4 – Updated February 2026

Tracking / streaming

Overview

  • Influence: Tracking / streaming
  • Domain: Classroom
  • Sub-Domain: Class composition effects
  • Potential to Accelerate Student Achievement: Likely to have a small positive impact
  • Influence Definition: Separating students, most often by academic ability, into groups for all subjects or certain subjects, and often then adjusting the expanse and depth of curriculum for these tracks. It is also referred to as streaming or phasing in various countries.

Evidence

  • Number of meta-analyses: 15
  • Number of studies: 594
  • Number of students: NA
  • Number of effects: 1,421
  • Weighted mean effect size: 0.09
  • Robustness index: 3

Meta-Analyses

Meta-Analyses
Journal Title Author Article Name Year Published Variable Number of Studies Number of Students Number of Effects Effect Size
American Educational Research Journal Kulik & Kulik Effects of Ability Grouping on Secondary School Students: A Meta-analysis of Evaluation Findings 1982 Ability grouping on high school students 52 NA 51 0.10
Conference paper Kulik & Kulik Effects of Ability Grouping on Elementary School Pupils: A Meta-Analysis. 1984 Ability grouping in elementary grades 23 NA 23 0.19
ERIC Kulik & Kulik Effects of Inter-Class Ability Grouping on Achievement and Self-Esteem. 1985 Inter-class ability grouping 85 NA 85 0.15
ERIC Noland & Taylor The Effects of Ability Grouping: A Meta-Analysis of Research Finding 1986 Ability grouping 50 NA 720 -0.08
Review of Educational Research Slavin Ability grouping and student achievement in elementary schools: A best-evidence synthesis. 1987 Ability grouping in elementary grades 14 NA 17 0.00
Review of Educational Research Slavin Achievement Effects of Ability Grouping in Secondary Schools: A Best-Evidence Synthesis 1990 Ability grouping on high school students 29 NA 29 -0.02
Review of Educational Research Gutierrez & Slavin Achievement Effects of the Nongraded Elementary School: A Best Evidence Synthesis 1992 Nongraded elementary schools 14 NA 14 0.34
Conference paper Kulik Effects of inter-class ability grouping on achievement and self-esteem 1985 Inter-class ability grouping 78 NA 78 0.15
Gifted Child Quarterly Kulik & Kulik Meta-analytic findings on grouping programs 1992 Ability grouping 56 NA 51 0.03
Dissertation Kim The impact of the nongraded program on students' affective domains and cognitive domains 1996 Nongraded schools in Kentucky 96 NA 96 0.17
Harvard Educational Review Mosteller, Light, & Sachs Sustained inquiry in education: Lessons from skill grouping and class size 1996 Ability grouping 10 NA 10 0.00
Conference paper Lou, Abrami, Spence, Poulsen, Chambers, & Poulsen A Meta-analysis of the effects of homogeneous versus heterogeneous group ability composition on student achievement: Looking at the "best" evidence. 1996 Ability grouping 12 NA 12 0.12
Review of Educational Research Steenberggen-Hu, Makel, & Olszewski-Kubilius What one hundred years of research says about the effects of ability grouping and acceleration on K–12 students' academic achievement: Findings of two second-order meta-analyses 2016 Ability grouping in RCT studies 11 NA 11 0.03
Conference paper Baker The effects of ability grouping on Black and Brown students: A meta-analysis of 11 primary studies. 2022 Ability grouping with Black & Brown students 11 NA 11 -0.03
Review of Educational Research Terrin & Triventi The effect of school tracking on student achievement and inequality: A meta-analysis.  2023 Ability grouping on achievement 53 NA 213 -0.02
TOTAL/AVERAGE 594 NA 1,421 0.08
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