| Jacob Hibel
Pennsylvania State University
Effects of performance-based organizational differentiation on the educational productivity and equality of American elementary schools
American elementary schools employ a system of organizing students for instruction that relies heavily on the differentiation of students from one another based on observed academic performance and behavioral characteristics. Performance-based differentiation schemes include organizational practices such as curriculum, tracking and ability grouping, as well as gifted/talented education, special education, and grade retention. The proposed dissertation will examine effects relating to the organization of performance-based differentiation on schools' educational productivity and equality of academic achievement in a nationally representative sample of elementary students followed from kindergarten entry through the end of fifth grade (ECLS-K). The study will investigate four organizational characteristics of performance-based differentiation schemes: differentiation gradient; inclusiveness; over-time group flexibility; special education placement rate; and grade retention rate to identify those organizational practices that offer the greatest potential to maximize a school's productivity while minimizing educational inequality, taking into account a broad array of contextual and institutional characteristics that make each school unique.
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